My Stripper Housekeeper
by eaw22
Summary: Edward runs into a girl from class working at the local strip club. When he offers her a job being his housekeeper, will he get more than he is paying for?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first time writing anything like this. I have been reading stories for over a year now and finally decided to try my hand at it, so please take it easy on me. If it's awful let me know so I can stop from embarrassing myself even more. I hope you enjoy.**

**I do not own anything Twilight.**

**Chapter 1**

It was a typical night out with the guys as we headed to a bar to throw back some beers. However tonight, Emmett decided to change it up as we went to Eclipse, a local strip club. I don't know why he keeps trying to pull this shit with me; he knows it's not my scene. Yet here I sit as some girl tries rubbing up against me. I mumble something unintelligible to her as I stand up and find the restroom. It's nights like these that I find myself making friends with the bouncers as I try to avoid the scantily clad women looking for their next sugar daddy. I am a man don't get me wrong, but there is just something that is totally unappealing about women that strip off their clothes for money, have a little self respect please.

I stood talking with Jared, one of the bouncers, about some of the crazy shit that he has seen gone down here. Something about the bartender was banging one of the girls when some customer comes in… I lost track. I look at my Rolex and notice it's a little after midnight, figuring it's an acceptable time as any, I make my way back towards Emmett and Jasper to tell them I'm heading out. I turn to leave when I bump into one of the aforementioned scantily clad women. I mumble an apology as I grab her arm to steady her. A shock flows through my body like I have never felt before. I turn my eyes up and am lost in a set of chocolate eyes. I take a step back and look at her face. I recognize her immediately. "I know you," I stated. She quirks an eyebrow as she adjusts her clothing.

"I'm sorry I can't say the same about you." I nod thinking we have never actually spoken before.

"You're in a couple of my classes at UW."

She stares at me blankly. "Sorry I don't recognize you. Can I help you with something? If not I should get back to work." She turns to leave but I grab her arm before she can get away from me.

"Why are working here? You're better than this." Insert foot now. I never was very good with social interactions.

I see irritation flare in her eyes before she removes her arm from my grasp. "You don't know anything about me. And since you wouldn't know, school is expensive for those of us who weren't born with a silver spoon in their mouth," she says eyeing my expensive clothing.

I shrug my shoulders. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. And I do know how much school costs. But you are right; I was born with a silver spoon, although it may have been gold… either way, I'm not unaware of what things cost. I just hate to see someone like you working in a place like this when I know you are capable of working somewhere far better than this-" At this she places her hand over my mouth.

She glares at me lightly, "How would you know what I'm capable of, and what do you mean: 'someone like you.' Are you stalking me?"

"What? Absolutely not! I just… I see you at school, and if you're going there you are obviously too good for a place where you're selling your body-"

"Just stop. I don't know who you think you are coming in here telling me that I'm too good for this place. You don't know me. And for your information I work here because it pays way better than working some other college job. And I am not 'selling' my body. I make sure all the right places are covered and that men keep their filthy hands off. So why don't you take your trust fund and get the fuck out of my way. I'm working."

I see her retreating form and my mind yells at me to stop her. To save her from this. "Wait! Please, I'm sorry. I don't mean to insult you. If you haven't noticed, I am a little socially inept. But I was wondering if you would take a position working for me at my-" Smack! _What the hell was that?_

I grab my cheek and look into the blazing eyes of Strip Girl. "What do you think I am? I am not some call girl. I don't sell myself out to assholes like you. I would never do something that low." She was seething now, her hands shaking at her sides.

_How the hell did this happen? I was just offering a job and she thinks I am trying to purchase sexual favors from her?_ "Wait slow down. I never said anything about buying you. I was simply offering you a job cleaning my house and cooking occasionally. Nothing sexual whatsoever. I would never in a million years ever hire someone like that. My housekeeper just left, so I'm in the market. You could get out of this shit hole and if you need I can provide housing as I did for my previous employee," I stammered quickly.

She seemed to relax a little at my words but was still looking apprehensively at me. "Um… well, that's uh, good to know. But I don't know anything about you, and for you to offer me a job just like that is a little strange. I don't know anything about you. You could be the next Ted Bundy for all I know."

"I'm sorry. I know I am going about this all in the wrong manner. I can assure you that I am your average guy, except for the socially awkward part. Here, I'll give you my information and you can come by tomorrow or sometime this week and check it out first if you would like. I promise I can offer you better pay, and I'm sure it will be far less hours on your part," I said grabbing a napkin and writing my information on it before handing it to her. "I'm Edward Cullen, by the way. I hope to hear from you soon." With that I walked past her heading out to my Volvo and climbed in, ready to go home

I get home thirty minutes later and am immediately consumed with guilt. _Great, now when I see her in class it is going to be awkward_. I knew she wasn't going to call me after all the shit that just went down. Again my social skills strike again, leaving me unintentionally insulting someone and offering a complete stranger a position to come and move in with me. _What was I thinking?_ I wish I had her number so I could apologize again. I feel like that's all I ever do anymore is apologize to everyone around me. I thought back over the conversation I had with Strip Girl and cringe. I don't even know her name for Christ's sake. What is wrong with me?

I close the garage door and unlock the door leading to the house. Home sweet home. Strip Girl had it right when she alluded to the fact that I come from money. This house is a testament to that. The foyer alone is the size of a dorm room. This house is much too big for a college student, however I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon, so why not be comfortable. There are three bedrooms total: one being the master bedroom, a guestroom, and one that I allow my housekeeper to stay in, each having their own en suite bathroom. Plus there's the library, study, piano room, game room, living room, kitchen, etc. I don't try to flaunt my wealth, but I may perhaps come off that way sometimes. My house is the one place I can be me without there being any inhibitions. It is also the place I spend most of time, so I shouldn't I be comfortable?

I climb the stairs trying to avoid the feelings of loneliness that are trying to consume my thoughts once again. That's the whole reason for the night out with the guys tonight, and here I am worse off then when I left earlier. Emmett and Jasper were great, but I know most of the time they only spend time with me out of obligation. Emmett is my older brother, but I feel like I fit that bill more so than he does. He's the fun loving, carefree, life of the party whereas I'm the uptight, straight-laced, socially awkward pariah. Jasper is able to bring us together with his mellow attitude and relaxed demeanor. Before him, it was rare when Em I would hang out. Jasper is our sister Alice's fiancé. At first the friendship was forced on us by the little sprite, but eventually we all formed a bond, more so Em and Jasper though. I wish I could offer more, but I know that will probably never happen.

Alice is my lifeline. She's my twin sister and I absolutely adore her. It's because of her that I wear nice clothes and that my house is decorated. When we were younger we used to be attached at the hip. We grew apart over time, but when we are together we can pick right back up where we left off. I don't really know what happened to make me like this, but there is no use fighting it. I've gone to countless shrinks trying to figure it out, but they can't find anything wrong. I've come to accept it, so now all I can do is hope that I don't scare off the only people that matter most to me.

Because of this social awkwardness (SA for sort) I haven't had any luck in the area of relationships. Most women think I'm just a dick because I can't filter my thoughts most of the time. Let's just say women don't take it lightly when I inadvertently call them dumb because they lack any common brain functionality or that they look like a clown because they wear so much makeup that I can't tell what color their skin is actually suppose to because they have on so much foundation on their face you would think they are hiding a hideous deformity or something. Like I said, women and I don't really connect.

I open the door to my room and start stripping off my clothes, leaving a trail in my wake. I take a look around my room noticing the unusual disarray it has fallen into. Ever since Maria left, things have fallen to shit around here. I guess one thing remains normal about me; I am messy and need a woman to clean up after me. I hired Maria when I first bought the house three years ago and was sad to see her go. She was like the grandmother I never had. Alice loved her too. But her son got sick and she decided to move closer to him, so I reluctantly said goodbye.

I took a nice, long, hot shower before throwing a pair of boxers on and collapsing onto my bed. I hope Strip Girl calls tomorrow… I'm sick of eating pop tarts for breakfast in the morning. I doubt she will though, I don't really come off as charming. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Chocolate eyes staring at me, begging me to help is the last thing I remember when I open my eyes to the sun glaring down on me. Note to self: remember to tell Alice I need new curtains that actually keep the light out. I crack one eye open and look at the clock. Groaning into the pillow, I will myself to get up and start the day, as it is already almost noon. I head down to the kitchen and make some coffee and a bagel to eat as well. I scan through the paper barely paying attention to what I'm reading. After I'm finished with my poor excuse for a breakfast, I throw some clothes on and decide to clean up that residue from the past two weeks strewn about the house.

I really need to find a new housekeeper; who knew cleaning could be so exhausting. As I'm scrubbing the kitchen counter with my yellow rubber gloves I hear the doorbell ring. Not expecting any visitors today I make my way to the door and swiftly open it. Standing before me in comfortable looking jeans and a t-shirt is Strip Girl. My mouth may have opened as I stood gaping at her wondering what she was doing here.

"Are you going to invite me in, or are you going to conduct this interview in the doorway?" she said with her eyebrow perfectly raised.

"Oh, right. Sorry. I just wasn't expecting you to actually turn up. Please come in." I opened the door a little more as she stepped in eyeing the place up. "You caught me by surprise I must admit. I was just doing a little cleaning, as I have been out of a housekeeper for the past two weeks." My hand automatically starts reaching for my hair when I realize I am still wearing the hideous rubber gloves. I quickly strip them off as I make my ways towards the kitchen with Strip Girl following at my heels.

"Sorry, I should have called first. To tell you the truth, I was trying to scope out the place first making sure that you weren't some crazy asshole trying to lure me to their place. I can come back at another time if you would like."

I smiled a little at her admission, "not at all. That's probably a good idea. It wasn't under the best of circumstances that we met necessarily. Again I am truly sorry if I offended you at all last night. Can I get you something to drink?"

"No thank you. And there's nothing to apologize for, I may have over reacted slightly." At this she started fidgeting with her fingers as she drew her bottom lip into her mouth and looked away.

"Alright then, first thing first: what's your name?"

She turned back to face me with a shy smile on her face, "Bella, Bella Swan."

I smiled back, "Well Bella, if you choose to accept the position your duties would include keeping the house clean. That may seem daunting by the size of the place, however most rooms are hardly ever used so it's just dusting and vacuuming those when need. Besides cleaning, there's the cooking and grocery shopping. I don't expect you to make every meal, in fact one meal a day is fine. Either breakfast or dinner as I'm usually not here for lunch as I assume you wouldn't be either with classes. Aside from those two things you are free to come and go as you please, that is if you choose to live here. I can show you the room you would be staying in. All the rooms would be open for you to use except my bedroom of course. Although I don't know what you would do in there anyway. If you do decide to live here, you are free to have friends over whenever you please. I would ask that you not have any parties or anything of the sort, I don't like obnoxiously loud things. But you can watch TV or listen to music by all means, just no huge get-togethers I guess is what I'm saying… sorry I'm rambling now. Any questions?"

She looked at me blankly for a few seconds before a smile spread across her lips. "Can I see the room?"

We stood and I gave her a tour of the house pointing out where certain things were located, she seemed particularly interested in the large library. I showed her the room she would be staying in explaining she could decorate however she liked while staying here. "You would have no expenses staying here such as rent or food. If you don't have a car you can use the one I purchased for Maria so you can run any errands I would ask of you such as picking up dry cleaning. You can of course use it for personal use as well. If you're going to be gone for a couple days, please let me know so that I'm not worried about you being abducted or anything like that. Is there anything else you can think of that I may have missed?"

"Um, I don't think you ever mentioned how much I would be making…" she said.

"Oh that's right, sorry. I'm sure that's what your most interested in. I pay six hundred a week. Does that sound reasonable?"

Her eyes bulged out of her head at the amount, "Are you serious?"

"Um, if it's not enough we can talk about raising it," I stammered.

"No that's not it, I just wasn't expecting that much that's all. It's fine. So uh, when can I move in?"

I laughed nervously as I ran my fingers through my hair. We arranged for her to move in the following day. I offered to hire a moving company if she needed one, but she insisted she would be fine. After I walked her to her car, I returned to my cleaning figuring she shouldn't have to start with the huge mess I made.

A couple hours later I finished up and hopped in the shower. I retired to the lounge and phoned Alice asking her to stop by tomorrow night after Bella was settled so they could talk abut how Bella wanted to decorate the room. Also I needed Alice to get measurements for new curtains in my room. Not wanting to stomach my own cooking, I ordered Chinese from my favorite little restaurant down the street. It arrived forty-five minutes later. I relaxed on the sofa eating and watching my new favorite show _Bones_. After I was done eating I turned the TV off and cleaned up, heading to the piano.

I have been playing the piano since I was five years old, and am still playing seventeen years later. I haven't had too much time to play lately with my busy class schedule. I sit down and stroke the keys adoringly. I start playing the song I wrote for my mother and morph it into _Claire de Lune_. Before I know it, I have started composing a new song that has been bouncing around in my head all morning long. It's the makings of a lullaby I realize. _That's odd, I don't know any babies._ I close the lid and make my way to my bedroom. I climb into bed and close my eyes thinking off the soft melody playing in my mind.

My alarm wakes me from my slumber and I blindingly reach my arm out to hit the snooze. Just as unconsciousness is about to claim me once again, my cell phone rings. I mumble a couple choice words into the pillow as I stretch my arm out to grab my phone. "-llo," I manage.

"Hello? Edward? It's Bella. I didn't wake you, did I?"

At this I raise my head a little more, "No, I was waking up anyway. What can I do for you?"

"I know we said nine o'clock, but would you mind if I came now? I need to get out of my apartment as soon as possible. Is that ok?"

"Yes, of course that's fine. Is everything ok? Do you need me to come?"

"No, everything is under control. But could you perhaps come let me in? My arms are full of stuff."

"Oh, you're here already? I'll be right now." I jump out of bed and race down the stairs to open the door. I made it just in time to catch a box that was about to fall.

"Thanks," Bella murmured. I look up at her face and my stomach dropped. The left side of her face is swollen and rapidly turning black and blue with tear streaks running down her cheeks.

"Bella?" She looks up at me, embarrassment written all over her distorted looking face. "What happened to you? Did you call the police?" I helped her empty her arms of her belongings and lead her to the sofa.

"No, it's nothing. Just a misunderstanding. I should get this stuff up to my room." She starts to stand, but I push her back down; she doesn't try to stop me.

"We can get that later. Just sit here and I am going to go get some ice." I rush into the kitchen, grab a thing of ice and a towel for Bella, and go back to the living room. When I get back she's sprawled across the couch fast asleep. I gently place the ice on her face. She stirred slightly but remained asleep. I sat looking at the broken woman lying before me, wondering what could have possibly happened.

**A/N: Please review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews. It's good to know that people are actually reading this. I don't know how frequent the updates will be because my internet at home is really slow so I have to go into town to use it. I'll do my best. Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions. I want to change the title so let me know your thoughts. **

**Chapter 2**

I rose from my squatting position in front of Bella and wandered back to the foyer to collect some of her things to deposit in her room. After I drop off her belongings I head back to my room to get dressed, as I just realized I am still only in my boxers. I make my way back downstairs and look outside and see a giant, rusted, red truck sitting in my driveway crammed with stuff. I slip my shoes on and make way to the truck where I start grabbing things to bring into the house. A good forty-five minutes later I have everything in Bella's room and I make my way to the kitchen to make breakfast for us.

The smell of burnt eggs is surrounding me, making me cringe. _Why can't I get it right this one time? She deserves a good breakfast_. I scrap the brown eggs into the garbage disposal and start to wash the disgusting pan. "Isn't that my job?" I jump a little and drop the pan into the sink. I turn around and give her a sheepish smile.

"I was trying to make you an _I hope you feel better/welcome _breakfast. Obviously you can smell how that turned out," I said nervously while reaching for my hair before I realized my hands were dirty.

She gave me a smile while pushing me to the side and taking over where I left off. "No offense, but I don't feel like getting food poisoning on the first day of my new job. Can you make toast without burning that?" she said while looking at me with a smirk on her face.

I blushed a little and nodded. "Toast is my specialty. What else do you think I live on?" We both laugh a little and go about our tasks for a couple minutes in silence before I finally break it, "So are you going to tell me what happened to you? Or am I suppose to think the worst?"

"Do you want to set the table when you're done with that? I'll have a glass of orange juice if you have some," she says instead of answering me.

I huff a little and grumble an acknowledgment. Before long, we are sitting at the table ready to enjoy an amazing looking meal of scramble eggs and bacon. "You still never answered my question… I want to trust you and for you to be able to trust me in return. I don't think it is good to start any sort of a relationship with secrets. Now please explain." I don't like being an asshole, but I need her to understand that she cannot just walk all over me. I just hope I don't push her away with my honesty.

"Did you ever consider that maybe I just don't want to talk about it… that I can't," she whispered as she pushed her food around her plate. I reach out my hand and grasp hers within mine.

"I'm sorry. I'm just worried about you. I know I don't know anything about you or what's going on in your life, but you show up at my house at seven in the morning looking like someone did a real good number on your face, what am I suppose to think here? Someone hurt you and they need to be held accountable for that."

She dropped her fork and took her hand out from mine bringing her feet up on her chair and wrapping her arms around them. "Where do you want me to start? When I went to quit my job and Laurent started calling me a whore and everything else under the sun saying I was useless and couldn't find a job anywhere where clothes are required? Or when I went home crying to my boyfriend who basically said the same things to me? Or when he accused me of being a whore for moving in with a man that I don't know and am getting paid for it? He got mad at me and stormed out of the house. I started packing up my shit to get out of there. I was taking out my last bag of stuff when Mike returned and he saw all of my stuff in my truck. He started yelling at me again, I tried to walk around him to get into my truck when he hit me. I stumbled back a bit before I straightened up and hit him in the chest before I kneed him in the balls and jumped in my truck and left. I drove around for a little bit before calling you and coming here. Anything else? Do I need to elaborate on something I didn't make clear enough for you?" she spat at me.

I sat there dumbfounded looking at her with as much empathy as I could. This woman sitting before me was stronger than I thought. "Bella… I… I don't know what to say. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset, but someone hurt you." I stood and walked over to her and kneeled beside her. I reached my hand out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before turning her face towards me. "What can I do?" I ask.

She looks down at me with her teary eyes and says, "Nothing. I don't want you to do anything." I start to protest before she stops me, "I have no intention of seeing Mike anymore and I quit Eclipse so I shouldn't be seeing Laurent again. There's nothing to be done."

"Bella I really think you should file a report against Mike, what if he tries to get back at you or find you. It would be good to have something on file in case something happens again. This is the first time that this has happened right?" I plead.

"Of course this is the first it's ever happened. I would never stay in an abusive relationship. And thank you for your concern but I don't plan on wasting anymore energy on Mike, I would just like to forget it ever happened."

"I was just making sure, you deserve someone better than that. And as much I wish you would report it, the decision is ultimately up to you." I stand and start to gather the dishes to clean, "So uh… what would you like to do today before the school week begins?"

"I can get those," she says as she grabs the remaining dishes on the table, "that is after all what you're paying me for is it not?"

I set the dishes in the sink and turn to face her, "I am not completely helpless Bella. You're not my personal maid or anything. Well I guess in a way you are, but that's beside the point. If I want to do the dishes or whatever else I'll do it. You don't need to remind me that it is part of what I'm paying you to do. And you don't need to feel bad about it or anything either, just think of it as time off or however else you want to put it. Understand?"

"Uh, yeah. And just for future reference, you just could have said you wanted to help or something. I just don't want you to think that I'm not doing the job you instructed me to do." At that I blush a little and run my hand through my hair. "And as for today, well I should probably get the rest of my stuff out of my truck and unpack so I'm not living out of suitcases. Unless there is something else you had in mind?"

"No, that sounds perfect. And while you were sleeping I took the liberty of getting the remaining items from your vehicle and taking them to your room. If you need anything I'll be in the library or my office most likely."

"Oh thank you. You didn't need to do that, but I appreciate it."

"No problem. And welcome home Bella."

With that I turned and went upstairs into the library. I grab my glasses and book and retire into my favorite chair by the window overlooking the pool outside. Not long after, I find my mind traveling to the girl that is down the hall from me unpacking what remains of her former life. I probably shouldn't have hired someone the same age as me, but I just had to get her out of that club. Some men just don't know what no means; she's lucky all she got was her boss being an ass to her when she quit. It could have been a lot worse. And I don't know where she found her ex-boyfriend but hopefully she won't go looking around there again. I don't understand how any man could ever hit a woman; was he raised by animals?

I feel my cell phone vibrating in my pocket but ignore it. I don't like talking on the phone and my family knows that, I don't get why they try calling me all the time. Eventually it stops and seconds later I feel it vibrate one last time, signaling I have a voicemail. I wonder who it was, if it's important they'll call back.

I sit staring out the window wondering what to do with the rest of the day. I should probably do some homework for class tomorrow but I don't see the point. Isn't homework suppose to help reinforce things you don't understand? I understand everything perfectly well, so isn't the homework just a waste of time instead? Ultimately I decide the positives of doing my work outweigh the negative so I bite the bullet and head to my office to dig in.

A plate is set in front of me startling from my work, and I jump briefly. I look up and Bella is standing in front of me with another plate, "it's after two, I thought you would be hungry. I went to make myself a sandwich and didn't see any other dishes, so I assumed you hadn't eaten yet. It's just a BLT, nothing too fancy."

"Oh, thank you. I always loose track of time when I'm doing my work. I'm so used to Maria looking after me that I forget to feed myself sometimes. How's the unpacking coming?"

"It's good. I don't have a whole lot of stuff so I'm almost done," she shrugged. "Is it ok to eat in here? I didn't know for sure."

"Yes of course. You can eat anywhere you want, I just prefer if you refrained from eating in the piano room. The last thing I need is for something to miraculously appear in the keys or some other place. But have a seat and we can take a break, I'm sure we both could use it." I stand and grab the plate and make way to the chair the left in front of my desk and sit on the floor in front of it leaning my back against it. She follows my lead and sits on the floor against the chair opposite from me.

"So what have you been working so hard on that you forgot to eat lunch," Bella asked before she took a bite of her sandwich.

"Just work for my classes this week. I am a bit of a procrastinator so I just started on the write up for the lab that's due on Tuesday. Have you done it yet?"

"Oh yeah, I keep forgetting that you are in my class. I finished it Friday before I had to go into work. My weekends are usually pretty busy with work so I don't have much time to do homework. What are you going to school for exactly?"

"I am majoring in Biochemistry with a minor in psychology and then I heading to med school. You?"

"I'm majoring in psychology with a minor in sociology. Then I am also attending medical school. Where are going for that?"

"I was just going to stay in the area, I have already been accepted at UW here, so I'll be going there in the fall. Are you sticking around or you getting the heck out of dodge?"

She laughed a little at that before she answered, "no, I am going there as well. I can't believe I never noticed you in my class before. We were bound to have had a lot of classes together considering we have similar majors and being pre-med and all."

"I tend to keep to myself, so it doesn't surprise me that you didn't notice me. But I guess we'll be seeing a lot more of each other in the future, not only with you living here but us going to the same school again. It will be nice to see a familiar face around."

She smiled at me, "it will be. But I should probably get the rest of my things unpacked so I have some time to relax tonight." She reached her hand out and I gave her my plate before standing up and returning to my homework.

"So where is she?"

"Shit Alice!" I drop my pen and look up at my sister, "how many times do I have to tell you to knock or something, you almost gave me a heart attack? We should get you a collar with bells on it or something, you're too damn quite."

She giggled and sat in the chair I was resting against earlier, "shut it Edward. You never answered my question, where is she? I want to meet her. And why didn't you answer your phone?"

"Yeah, yeah. You know I don't like talking on my phone, so don't act so surprised. But she's in her room unpacking and what not. Oh that reminds me I need new curtains in my room. That flimsy shit you have on them now are not cutting it, they're suppose to keep the light out, not let it in. I want automatic ones that I can just push a button and a screen will roll down and make the room pitch black. You know like in that one movie you made me watch with you that one time. _The Vacation_ or something like that."

She rolled her eyes at me, "that _one_ movie I made you watch with me that _one_ time? You really need to be more specific, but luckily for you I know what movie you're talking about because you said something about getting them when we watched it. It's called _The Holiday_ not _The Vacation_. I swear, if we weren't born minutes apart I would never believe that we're related."

"You know you love me Alice. But come on I'll introduce you to Bella." We left the study and made our way to Bella's room opening the door when I heard her say it was all right to come in.

"Bella I would like to introduce you my sister Alice, Alice this is Bella."

"Oh, hi. I didn't know Edward had a sister, it's nice to meet you," Bella said.

Alice turned to look at me in question with her eyebrow raised, "you didn't tell her I was coming?" she punched my shoulder before walking over to Bella and giving her a hug. "It's nice to meet you too Bella. Edward asked me to come over so we could discuss how you would like to decorate the place. I'm his decorator if you're wondering how a straight man could live in such a beautifully decorated house."

The two girls laughed at that, "well I'll just leave you two to it then. I am going to go try to finish up the rest of my homework. When you're done would you like to get something to eat?"

"Yeah, yeah. Now shoo Edward. We don't need you in here for this," Alice said.

"Right, well have fun."

I returned to my office to finish up the last bit of my homework. When I was done I walked by Bella's room to see if they were done but all I heard was a lot of talking and laughing. I hope Alice is keeping her mouth shut. I never did tell her not to talk about me, although she probably knows that. Then again, there's no stopping her. While I wait for them to finish, I decide to play a few songs on the piano. The piano is one of the first things I head to when I am bored or need to think things through.

A tap at my shoulder startles me. I turn to see Alice standing beside me smiling, "are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, I was just playing for a little bit while the two of you finished up." She hooks her arm through mine and drags me down the stairs to where Bella is waiting for us. "So where would ladies like to eat tonight?"

Bella shrugs, "it doesn't matter to me."

"How about the Acoustic Café that's down the road a little bit," Alice says and then looks at Bella, "it's Edward's favorite restaurant around here."

"Sounds good to me."

We walk into the garage and climb into my Volvo. Alice and Emmet always give me crap about it, saying I drive a soccer mom's car. I ignore them most of the time, it's not like it's my only car either, I just don't see the point in driving a flashy car when most of the driving I do is within five miles of my house and generally to class or the gym.

We make small talk for the five minutes it takes to get there, Alice and Bella seem to getting along quite well I notice. I order my favorite salami, provolone cheese, banana pepper, lettuce, and tomato hoagie while the girls order their food. Alice gets her soup and salad and Bella gets half a hoagie and a cup of soup.

After our food arrives I ask how Bella's room is coming along. "Really well thank you. Alice is amazing; she knew exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for without even knowing me five minutes. You'll be great once you start up your business Alice. I don't think I will be able to afford much of the stuff we talked about, so I'll just have to start with a couple of things here and there."

"Thanks Bella, I feel like we've know each other forever though. And I told you, Edward is forking the bill, not you. So you can all out. I'm sure if you wanted to add on an entire new room on to the house because you didn't like yours Edward wouldn't object."

"Oh, yeah we can do that if you want to, I never even asked-" I start to say before Bella interrupts me.

"No I like my room just fine, I don't really even need to get anything new for it. I don't want to change anything too much."

"Nonsense, you will be living there so you should decorate it as you want. I am sure your sense of style is quite different from Maria's; after all she was sixty years old. I should hope you have different tastes then hers. And I will of course be paying for everything, I want you to be comfortable there, it's your home too now."

After a little more persuasion, Bella agreed to Alice taking over decorating her room. We finished our meal and headed back to my house.

"I'm going to finish up a few more things in my room, then I am going to call it a night. It's been a long day."

"Alright, see you in the morning. When do you have class?"

"I have class at eight and I get done around two, you?"

"Eight to one, I can take you and then I can wait until you're done if you want. Unless you had something else you were planning on doing after."

"No I don't have anything else going on, but you don't have to wait for me. I would fell bad, I can just walk back."

"Don't be silly. I'll just go the library and do some homework. I would be doing the same thing if I were home anyway, so don't worry about it. Just give me a call when you're done and I'll meet you. Sound good?"

"Yeah, sounds perfect. Good night. And it was nice meeting you Alice."

"You too Bella. I'll call you tomorrow with the details."

With that Bella walked up to her room and shut the door. Alice and I made our way to the lounge and sat on the couch propping our feet up on the ottoman.

"So when we talked on the phone yesterday you never mentioned that Bella was young and gorgeous…" Alice said turning so she was facing me.

I shrug, "I didn't really think about it. It's not like I was intentionally hiding the fact that she's the same age as me. It just didn't really cross my mind."

She quirks and eyebrow at me, "how would it not be important to share that little tidbit of information with me. All you told me was that you hired someone to replace Maria and that you wanted me to come and decorate the room for her. I thought she would be someone Maria's age, not some twenty-something year-old girl. You do realize that this is not going to be the same as having Maria around, right?"

"Of course Alice. I obviously don't expect her to be like Maria. It was a spur of the moment decision ok. It didn't even cross my mind at the time that she was my age or whatever. I just had to get her out of there. I saw her at school and I-"

"Wait," she holds up her hand to stop me. "Get her out of where? And you knew her from school?"

"Friday night when I went out with Emmett and Jasper, we went to Eclipse and I was leaving and I ran into her there. I recognized her from one of my classes but I didn't know her name or anything. She was working there and I just couldn't stand to see her doing that to herself. I mean she was in an advanced class with me, so obviously she's smart. So I just sort of… offered her a job. It was a mess at first; I think she thought I was trying to proposition her, so I quickly explained what happened with Maria. She came over yesterday for an interview of sorts and now she's living with me."

"What happened to her face Edward?"

"Uh… I don't think that it's my place to say. If you want to ask her go ahead, in fact I'm surprised that wasn't the first thing you asked her when you saw her."

"I may be nosy, but it didn't seem appropriate to interrogate her the first time I met her. But she told you about it?"

"Yeah, well she showed up at seven this morning crying on my doorstep. I thought I deserved to know. But after I talked to her I kind of just felt like an ass for prying into her life."

Alice rested her head on my shoulder and snuggled up to my side, "she's ok though, right? I mean you'll keep her safe won't you?"

"Of course I'll do whatever I can. I wanted to do something when she told me, but she didn't want me to. And since I don't really know her, I didn't want to overstep my bounds. But yeah, I think she's ok. She seemed to bounce back pretty quickly, then again she could just be hiding it well."

"She's going to change you Edward. I can already see it happening."

"I know… and I don't know what it means."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry it took so long for an update. Had a little writers block and I find myself reading more frequently then writing. I'll try to update sooner because I will be leaving in few weeks for boot camp and I don't want to have this hanging out there. But no promises. If you hadn't noticed I changed the name of the story to "My Stripper Housekeeper." Thanks to BettyBoop73 for the suggestion. Read on.**

**Chapter 3**

Monday. What else is there to say? After Alice left last night I went up to my room and crashed. The alarm this morning was not very welcoming. At least this semester is almost over, then it will be summer.

I drag myself out of bed, hop in the shower, and continue with my usual morning routine of brushing my teeth, shaving, etc. I throw on my favorite pair of jeans and black t-shirt and make my way to the kitchen wondering what the hell I am going to eat for breakfast. I sense movement and slowly turn the corner attempting to catch whoever is trespassing in my house. As I make my way around I almost run into Bella and knock her over. I grab her arms to steady her before releasing.

"This seems to be habit of yours, running into me," she looks up at me with a drowsy smile and quite laugh.

I chuckle a little and run my hand up the back of my neck into my hair, "sorry, I sort of forgot you were living here with me. I was just getting used to living alone before I hired you so I was trying to sneak up on whoever was intruding in my kitchen, only to run into you instead. Which I must say is far better than having to confront someone sneaking around in here."

She laughed and made her way around me to head towards the stairs, looking back at me over her shoulder, "and what exactly were you going to do when you caught said intruder?"

"Um," I shrug, looking around me. I grab the nearest thing and wave it in the air. Looking back at her I say, "well I was planning on creeping up behind them and hitting them with a…" I look at the object in my hand and then back at her, "rolling pin?"

She shakes her head and chuckles to herself, "well you could have done worse. It's a good thing you grabbed that instead of the banana sitting next to it."

I blush a little, "uh," but before I can fully respond she is already at the top of the stairs heading towards her room.

"Oh," she yells over her shoulder, "there's a pot fresh coffee."

Refocusing at the task at hand, I turn back around and replace the rolling pin where I found it, or at least where I think it was. I make way over to the coffee pot and pour myself a mug, taking a nice long sip. I look around wondering what I'm going to eat when I notice a basket of muffins sitting near the coffee. _That's weird; I didn't know I owned any baskets_. Now that I'm paying more attention to my surroundings, I can make out the distinct smell of coffee and muffins in the air. _Note to self: pay better attention to things around you_. I eye the muffins carefully trying to decipher if they are eatable. Determining they are harmless, chocolate chip muffins, I pick one out and take a bite.

"Mmm," I hum to myself licking my lips.

"So I take it you like them?"

I momentarily choke, dropping the muffin onto the counter and reaching for my mug to wash down the rest. "Uh yeah," I mumble turning around to face Bella who is leaning up against the doorframe. "Is it ok that I took one, or did you make them for something?"

She smirks at me before removing herself from her position watching me, "no, I made those for you. Well us I guess, as I plan on eating some of them too."

"They're really good. You made them from scratch?"

"Thank you. And yeah I made them this morning, I woke up pretty early so I decided to do something useful instead of staring at the wall trying to fall back asleep."

"Was the bed not comfortable for you? If you want you can try the one in the guest room, or we could just stop after class today and get you a new one."

"No, no, no. The bed is comfortable; I love the bed. Just jitters from the move I think."

"Oh, well if you're sure."

She nodded her head and then we sat there looking at each other in awkward silence. "Well, uh, if you're all ready I guess we can head out then," I say.

"Ok, I'll just go grab my bag. I'll be right back."

As she turned to walk away I release a big breath that I didn't know I was holding. This will take some getting use to. I'm not use to interacting with females my age on a daily basis. Alice doesn't count because she's my sister and she understands me. Bella on the other hand, she has no idea what she has gotten herself into. Maybe I should have told Alice to tell her about me, then she could just leave now instead of down the road when I accidently insult her for god knows what. I already did that once, and I do not want a repeat.

Once Bella returned, we make our way out to my car and head towards school. In the car we make idle chitchat until we arrive at my parking space. We wave goodbye and head our separate ways, with Bella promising to call when she's done.

As the day wears on, I find myself getting anxious for the day to be over and for it to be two o'clock so I can find Bella and go home. I usually enjoy my classes, but today they can't end soon enough. As my final class of the day ends, I start heading for my car before remembering that I have to wait for Bella. Another adjustment I have to make, not that I mind waiting.

I sit down in a cube at the library grabbing my iPod and a book from my bag that I need to read before my next class. This is new for me as well, usually I leave all of my homework until last minute; I guess this is a good change. While I'm reading I feel my phone vibrating in my pocket, choosing to ignore it like usual. A couple minutes later I feel it vibrating again. _Can't anyone leave me alone? I'm trying to get some work done, and I can't do that when you're calling me all damn the time!_ A couple minutes later it vibrates again. Getting frustrated, I throw my things in my bag and make my way out of the library. Once I get out of the library, I reach for my phone to see who has been calling me, noticing it is two-thirty in the afternoon.

_S-H-I-T!_

I immediately call her back with her picking up on the first ring, "hey, I've been trying to call you for the past twenty minutes. Where are you? I walked out to your car and it's still there."

"I'm so sorry Bella. I was in the library reading for class and I totally lost track of time. I'll be there in five. Are you still over there?"

"I'll head back over there. I started to head to the bus stop 'cause I figured you were busy with something, but I didn't make it that far before you called. I should get there the same time as you."

"I'm sorry, I'll be right there."

We hung up the phone and I booked it across campus to my car. Bella was leaning up against the passenger side door and I quickly unlocked the door for her to get in.

As I climbed in the car I apologize again, "I'm so sorry Bella. I was so focused on my book that I lost track of time. And I never answer my phone when people call and it totally slipped my mind that you would be calling me when you were done."

"It's alright Edward, really. I get that way when I'm reading all the time. I should have tried looking for you in the library or something. But we're here now, so it's fine."

"I still feel bad. I guess the multiple calls should have clued me in," I laugh to myself while shaking my head a little.

"Water under the bridge."

We make the rest of the trip home in silence, this time comfortable, even though I still feel bad for forgetting about her. Once the garage door is shut we make our way inside and I head up to put my bag in my study. I make my way to the kitchen to find something to eat, only to find Bella beating me to it. I notice her backpack messily thrown on the floor by the counter. I give it the stink eye and try to ignore it. I guess I shouldn't worry too much about it considering I am that way too for the most part. Maria was always the one to clean up after me, now I feel like I have to be on my best behavior all the time so Bella doesn't think I'm a slob.

I start rummaging through the fridge trying to find something eatable; so far I am coming up empty.

"Are you looking for gold in there? I thought you would keep that somewhere safer than the refrigerator."

"I don't own any gold actually. But you're right, I would put it somewhere else, perhaps my safe filled with rare jewels and artifacts," I quip back looking over my shoulder at her. "I'm trying to find something to eat actually. I figure if I stare long enough something might materialize before my eyes."

"And how's that working out for you?"

"Well as I'm still standing here empty handed with a grumbling stomach, I'd say not too well."

"I was going to make some grilled cheese if you want some… you don't really have many things to choose from. I need to go grocery shopping. I was going to go after I finish eating."

"You don't have to make me anything, you already made muffins this morning. And I can take you to the store if you want. That way I can show you the kind of stuff I like."

Rolling her eyes she says, "I am already making myself a sandwich, adding another one or two won't kill me. Besides, I don't think you'll find much else to eat."

"You're probably right. Thank you."

She finishes making the sandwiches and soon enough we're back in the car heading to the store. I hate grocery shopping with a passion. I am so glad that I have someone to do it for me again. I make quick work of grabbing things and pointing out others that I like to have in the house.

"If you haven't noticed already, I am a pretty shitty cook. _If _I make anything, generally it comes out of box and all I have to do is add water. So if there is anything else you want to grab for yourself feel free to get whatever you would like. I'm used to Maria cooking for me all the time because she was afraid I would starve or give myself food poisoning if I cooked anything."

"Well the only attempt I have seen of yours has been the eggs yesterday, so only time will tell," she says with a wink. "I'll keep that in mind if you ever cook anything and offer me some."

Shortly after, we make our way to the check out and head back home. I show her where things go and find places for the items she bought. After it's all put away I head towards the living room and plop myself on the couch stretching out across the length of it. I grab the remote and search for something to watch, settling on an old episode of _Bones_ once again.

Bella enters the living room dropping her bag at her feet before sitting down between the couch and coffee table. She pulls out a couple books and scatters them on the table in front of her along with some notebooks and binders. She takes a pen from the front compartment of her bag and places it between her lips while digging for an assignment that's logged somewhere in the mess in front of her.

Twenty minutes later I hear Bella huff and start tapping her nails on the surface of the table. I turn my attention back to the TV before she does it again. I start to grow irritated; I am trying watch TV and she is interrupting me by trying to do her homework here. This is a common living space; if she didn't want to hear the TV she should have gone in the library or study, or even her room for god sake.

"Is the TV bothering you? I could go to my _room_, if it is."

"What? Oh no, the TV is fine. I'm just stuck on a problem that's all. It's bugging the shit out of me."

"Oh… what class is it for? Maybe I can help?"

"Chemistry."

I get up, sit myself next to her on the floor, and look over her assignment. I start explaining to her what she was doing wrong and then showing her the right way. Before I know it, I helped her complete her work and now find myself relaxing on the sofa next to her.

"Thanks for your help. I would have been pulling my hair out for hours if it weren't for you."

"Not a problem. You forget I'm a biochem major, it's my specialty."

The next morning goes much smoother when I make my way to the kitchen. I find a note on the counter leading me to a plate of eggs and toast in the microwave. This woman is too good to me.

I hear her footsteps coming down the stairs before she enters the kitchen and plops herself on the chair next to me. I smile at her, "I'm going to get spoiled if you keep this up," I say pointing at my almost clean plate. "I hope you don't think you have to do this every morning or anything. You've been making all my meals everyday, I feel bad."

She laughs, "I was up early again so I made some extra when I was making myself some. It's no big deal. If I didn't have time I wouldn't have bothered," she replied with a wink.

"Well thank you. It's delicious."

We make it to school with little trouble and head our separate ways. I'm sitting in my lab, which is the last class of my day, when someone throws their things down next to me making me jump.

I look up into brown eyes I'm starting to familiarize myself with, "you sure scare easily."

"Sorry. I'm just so used to ignoring people or being ignored that you caught me off guard."

"Well if you would like I can go back to the jackasses at my other table," she says motioning over her shoulder with her thumb.

I chuckle, "no, you're welcome to stay here. It will be nice to have a partner for once," I say with a smile.

An hour later we are making our to my car to head home. "Wow, who knew you could get done so much faster with a partner?"

She laughs, "who knew you get done so quickly with someone who actually knows what the hell they're doing? My other partners were complete nimrods. I had to show them how to do everything, which obviously wasn't much in comparison to you."

"This is my thing, remember?"

"If only I would have met you sooner. You could have saved me some seriously depressing grades in some of my past classes."

"Well I'm here now. I'll see what I can do to bring you up to par."

The rest of the week went much the same way: driving to school together, coming home, working on homework (me assisting Bella in chemistry), and Bella cooking for us.

"So have any plans for tonight?"

I shook my head, "no. I'm a recluse remember? You caught me in a rare moment of weakness last weekend at the club. My brother and my sister's fiancé dragged me out of my house and insisted that I accompanied them to Eclipse. I was trying to make my escape when I ran into you. What about you? You must have the whole weekend planned out now that you don't have to work."

"Yeah, my plan is to be lazy for once. Usually I am busy during the day trying to do homework or sleep before work. I think that I am going to go out with my friend Jake tonight though. He keeps harassing me to hang out with him. He and Mike didn't really get along so he's pretty excited that I have time to hang out with him again."

"That's right, how is our dear friend? He hasn't tried contacting you, has he?"

"He's tried to approach me on campus a couple of times, but I yell like a crazy person whenever he gets too close to me. Needless to say, he doesn't hang around long enough to try and talk to me. And I have been ignoring his phone calls and text messages, so," she shrugs, "yeah."

"Ha ha, nice. I wish I could have seen that. But I'm glad you're not talking to him. He does know that it's over though right? I mean he doesn't think that you two just got in a fight and you'll be back?"

"Yes he knows. If not he is an idiot. Well he is that too, but whatever. The first time I saw him after our fight, he came up to me and I literally grabbed him by the balls and told him to stay the fuck away from me. So I don't really know why he is still trying to approach me."

"Couldn't tell you."

"Well I am going to go get ready," she says as she rises from the sofa and heads upstairs.

I lay back on the couch with my hands behind my head looking up at the ceiling. What should I do tonight? I sort of got used to Bella being around at night and just sitting around with her. What did I do with my time before she moved in?

I finally decide to head up to the library to read some of my book I have been neglecting since Bella moved in. Most nights I find myself with her in the living room watching TV or doing homework. Usually it only takes me two to three days to read a book if I'm really interested it; this one I have been reading for almost a week and a half now.

The creaking of the door snaps my attention to the door where Bella is poking her head through, before she steps fully into the room. She's wearing dark wash skinny jeans with a periwinkle printed tee and grey pair of Chuck Taylors. I never really paid attention to what she wore before, but I had to admit that she looked really good tonight. Her hair was down and flowing around her shoulders. I had sudden urge to run my fingers through it and see how soft it was.

"I'm going to head out. I don't know when I'll be back, so don't wait up or anything."

I smiled, "I'm not your father Bella. You don't have to report to me or anything. But thank you for letting me know. Have fun with your friend."

"Thanks. Oh, how rude of me, did you, uh, want to come out with us," she asks as she scratches the back of her head. "I mean if you're not doing anything else."

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm just going to stay in tonight. You know," I say pointing at myself, "hermit."

She laughs, "alright, well if you change your mind give me a call," she says as she turns around and heads out the door.

A few hours later I get out of my chair to stretch and look at the time. Eight o'clock. At that moment my stomach decides to grumble, complaining it needs to be fed. I decide to walk to my café down the block, so I grab my book and wallet and head out the door. As I'm opening the door I run into a small body almost knocking it over.

"Oomph." I look down and find Alice and Jasper standing on my front porch.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?"

Alice grumbles under her breath a little before saying, "I came by to talk to Bella a little bit more about her room so we can make a list and go shopping in the morning. Where are you going," she asks with her eyebrow raised.

"Bella isn't here right now, she went out with a friend. And I decided that I should probably eat something so I'm going to Acoustic. What brings you along Jasper?"

He opens his mouth to speak but Alice cuts him off, "he was here to entertain you while I was talking to Bella. Oh, and of course to meet her."

"Sorry she put you up to that Jazz. And I think I can entertain myself thank you very much Alice. Well did you guys eat yet? You can come with me if you want."

Alice does a little jump thing and claps her hands, "we'd love to come with you, wouldn't we Jazz," she says as she looks at him with her puppy dogface.

He smiles down at her before placing a kiss on her forehead and turning to me, "of course."

We make our way to the café, order, and settle down in a comfortable booth.

"So Edward, Alice tells me you hired a new housekeeper."

"Yeah I did. You know Maria left to be with her family," I shrug, "I needed someone to pick up after me."

"And she's young, and pretty, and she was a stripper, and he knew her from class, and-" Alice starts rambling.

"What? She was a stripper? Nice man, I have to hand it to you. How did you find her?"

I scratch the back of my neck, "you know last week when we were at eclipse? Well when I was leaving I ran into her and almost knocked her over. I recognized her from school and I kind of offered her a position. At first she thought I was trying to proposition her, but then I explained and she showed up at my house the next day. I didn't really expect her to come," I shrug, "but she did and now she's working for me."

"And how's that going? She hasn't stolen from you or anything, has she?" Jasper asked.

Alice smacked his arm and I laughed a little, "no she hasn't stolen from me. I trust her. But it's going pretty good I would say. We drive to school together, and then do homework; she cooks for me all the time, and still manages to keep the place looking clean. So I'm glad I hired her."

"Has she stripped for you yet?"

Alice punched him again. "What? It's a logical question considering where he picked her up at."

"I would expect something like from Emmet, but not you."

He hung his head a little, "sorry Alice."

She smiled a little and then I responded, "uh no, she hasn't. We haven't really even talked about her past that much. I mean she doesn't dress provocatively in an everyday setting, so I guess I kind of just forgot about it."

We finish up our meals and head back to my place.

"Tell Bella to call me tomorrow when she wakes up so we can finish her room, ok?"

"Sure Alice. It was nice having dinner with you guys. I'll probably see you tomorrow then" I say hugging her and kissing her cheek.

"You bet you will. Love you."

"See ya Jasper," I wave.

"Have a good night Edward," he replied.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry for any typos that I have. I don't have anyone that reads over my writing before I post it. I always reread it a few times but I of course miss things. Thanks for the reviews, I really appreciate it. Read on.**

**Chapter 4**

After Jasper and Alice left I laid back on the couch turning on a mindless sitcom and zoning out. I slowly open my eyes taking in my surroundings noticing I'm still in the living room. The TV is off and there is a blanket on top of me. _That's weird, I don't remember doing either one of those things._ I smell pancakes, or something similar, and hear a few noises in the kitchen so I head in that direction.

I rub the sleep from my eyes and run my hands through my hair as I turn the corner to enter. Bella is standing at the island pouring batter in what I can only assume is a waffle maker. _I didn't know I had one of those._

"Hey," I say sleepily.

She jumped a little, startled by my voice. "Hi," she said just as wearily.

"I finally got you for once. Usually you're the one to scare me," I laugh a little.

She smiles up at me, "long night. Still not fully awake," she says, proving her point by yawning.

"What time did you get in? I didn't even hear you."

"Um, around one I think. I don't really remember. But you looked like you were out pretty good. I didn't know if I should wake you or not, so I just turned the TV off and gave you a blanket. You weren't waiting up for me, were you?"

I scratch the back of my neck, "no, I just fell asleep while I was watching TV. There wasn't really anything good on so I just ended up closing my eyes after awhile. The next thing I know I am waking up smelling waffles. How was your night? You and your friend able to catch up?"

"Yeah, it was good. We just went out to eat and then to a small pub afterward. He was getting on my case about meeting up with another one of my friends I lost contact with when I was with Mike. So I called her up and we're getting together tomorrow," she says as she places some waffles in front of me.

"Did Mike control who you hung out with? Cause the way you keep making it sound is that he was pretty controlling: not allowing you to hang out with your friends."

"Yes and no I guess," she shrugs. "He didn't mind necessarily, but he was very _possessive_, I guess you could say. Or jealous," she says in between bites. "He always thought something was going on between me and Jacob, even though we both assured him there wasn't. Eventually Jake didn't want to be around Mike anymore and I wanted to avoid any confrontation between the two, so I stopped hanging out with him. Rosalie on the other hand hated Mike from the beginning, so she never wanted to do anything with me if he was with. So in the end we lost touch as well."

"How long were you with Mike?"

"Oh gosh, um, a year give or take. I moved in with him to help on rent, and since I was there most of the time anyway it only made sense."

"And he didn't care, uh, what you did?" 

"No, I met him there actually. I was just a waitress/ bartender if they needed the extra help. I never got on stage or anything like that. Mike kept coming in and I saw him on campus every now and then, so I don't know… it was stupid of me when I look back at it."

"Would you still be with him if I didn't give you a job?"

"Most likely I guess. I mean if I wasn't moving out or changing jobs or whatever, we wouldn't have gotten in that fight. But my guess is that it was only a matter of time before that happened anyway, so it's good that it happened when it did. And I was able to quit that shitty job, so thanks."

"I just couldn't stand you working there. I don't know why. I saw you and my first thought was get her out of there. I don't know if that's creepy or something, but I recognized you from class so I knew you were going somewhere. And looking at all those men that were there, staring at you like you were something to eat and not as person, you deserve so much more than that. I thought I ruined my chances, so I was quite surprised when you showed up the next day, but very relieved."

She smiled at me as she stood up and started cleaning up the kitchen. "Thanks. It's good to feel like someone cares. Jake and Rose didn't understand why I was working there cause they work together at a repair shop, so they make decent enough money. But I was just trying to make ends meet and pay for school. And it may be a little creepy that you just offered me job on the spot like that, but I am grateful all the same that I'm out of there."

I help load the few remaining dishes in the dishwasher and say, "Alice came by last night to go over things for your room. She wants you to call her today so you can go shopping if you're not busy."

"Oh that's right. I totally forgot about all of that. This week has just been so crazy. I'll give her call when I'm done cleaning up."

"Sounds good. I'm going to go do some homework so I'll be in my office if you need me."

A couple hours later I hear talking coming from downstairs. Wondering what's going on, I make my towards the entrance only to find Alice, Jasper, and Emmett walking towards the stairs.

"Do you not know how to use the doorbell Alice?"

She looks up at me and rolls her eyes, "you know I never use that damn thing. Why should I start now? Where's Bella? We have to go shopping."

"I don't kn-"

"I'm right here," Bella says coming down the stairs behind me.

"Are you ready to go?"

"I guess so," she replies looking at the two men curiously.

"Oh, sorry. Bella this is my brother Emmett and my sister's fiancé Jasper," I introduce pointing at the two. "Guys this is Bella, my new housekeeper."

I see Emmett rake his eyes over her body before traveling back up to her face and smiling wickedly. He steps forward, wraps his arms around her petite frame, and lifts her off the ground in a hug. "It's good to meet you. Our Eddie here needs someone to look after him."

"You too," she stammers.

I roll my eyes, "Emmett let her go. You're crushing her; she needs to be able to breathe. And I can look after myself thanks. And don't call me Eddie."

He releases her and says, "sure _Edward_. If you could look after yourself you wouldn't need a housekeeper now would you?"

I ignore him and Jasper steps forward extending his hand, "it's a pleasure to meet you ma'am," he says with his southern drawl.

She shakes his hand and blushes a little at all the attention, "it's nice to meet you too. Alice has told me a lot about you."

I raise an eyebrow in my sister's direction. She has only talked to her the once last weekend, and she's already talking her ear off? _Great. I wonder what she has said about me_.

"Alright, now that all the introductions are made, let's get out of here Bella. We have a lot to do and only a little time," Alice says as she grabs Bella's hand and drags her towards the door before anyone can say anything else. It looks like she is about to say something as she waves her hand back at us before the door shuts cutting her off. We all look at each other wondering what just happened and burst out laughing.

"So what brings you guys out here today? Did Alice force you to come and "entertain" me?"

Emmett laughs, "not exactly that, but she wanted us to meet Bella. Which by the way, why didn't you tell me that you hired a smokin' hot piece of ass as your maid? And why has it taken this long for me to meet her?"

"She's not my maid, she's my housekeeper. And it never crossed my mind to tell you that I hired someone. Alice only knows, and Jasper for that matter, cause I called her to redecorate the room for Bella. What do you want me to do, call you every time I hire a new housekeeper?"

"Well no, I guess not. But dude, you couldn't have called and told me to get my ass over here so I could get some of that," he replied motioning towards the door where the girls left.

"Emmett, she is not just some piece of ass that you can have your way with. She is my employee. And you better not make any moves on her or anything. I will not have you ruin this for me or her. I don't want her going back to Eclipse, and I certainly don't want her going back to her ex. So back the fuck off."

He raises his hand in surrender, "jeez, if you wanted her for yourself so badly, you could have just said so man."

"That's not it all Emmett and you know it. She is my employee and I will not have my family harassing her. Do you understand?"

"I didn't even do anything. And what are you talking about Eclipse and her ex?"

"Remember last week when we were at Eclipse? She was a stripper there. Edward picked her up and offered her a position," Jasper explained.

"What? You hired a stripper," Emmett exclaimed.

"No, she was just a waitress. I knew her from class sort of, so I offered her a job. Her prick of a boss was pissed off after she quit calling her every name under the sun. She went home to her boyfriend upset only for him to go off on her too. They got into a fight and it escalated when she told him she was planning on moving in here. He stormed off but got back just as she was leaving and he hit her. The bruise on her face is finally gone now. But I don't want her to have to go back to either of those places because my brother can't keep his dick in his pants."

"Dude, I'm sorry I didn't know," he trailed off.

"Yeah, well just stay away from her. She's had enough men harassing her."

After a few minutes of tense silence, I flip on the TV, sit on the couch, and turn on some game. Jasper and Emmett take their seats around me and eventually all is forgotten and we're all yelling at the TV. I order pizza and we are sitting around eating and drinking a few beers when the front doors open and the girls come in the house giggling. They look at us, shake their heads, and retreat up to Bella's room with all the bags from the day's shopping trip.

A little after seven, Bella comes down and says hello before going into the kitchen. Forty-five minutes later, all the guys are salivating from the aroma coming from the kitchen. I stand up claiming to get another beer and make my way towards the delicious smell. I lean against the doorframe leading into the kitchen and watch Bella cook.

She's very graceful in the kitchen I've noticed. I can hear her humming some unknown tune to herself while chewing on her bottom lip. I decide to make myself noticed and enter the kitchen.

"Can I help you with anything," I ask.

"Oh! You scared me. That's twice in one day Mr. Cullen, are you trying to get revenge?"

There is something about the way she says _Mr. Cullen_ that makes me shiver. _I wonder what that's about_. I smile, "no, I just smelt something delicious and I was curious as to what it was."

"I'm just making some chicken fettuccini alfredo. It's almost done though, so if you want you can just set the table."

"That's one of my favorite meals," I say as gather enough plates for everyone and set the table in the dining room. Usually this room never gets used because I don't have enough people over to require a bigger table than the small one in my kitchen.

Just as I'm putting the finishing touches on the table Bella announces, "dinner is ready," loud enough for Alice to hear upstairs. I hear Emmett bound into the dining room and take a seat. He immediately grabs his plate and helps himself to some alfredo. Shortly after, Alice and Jasper leisurely walk in holding hands and take their seats.

"Emmett! That's so rude. You know you're suppose to wait for everyone else before you start eating," Alice exclaims.

"Sorry. I'm starving, and it just smelt so good," he says around a mouthful of food. "This is fantastic by the way," he addresses Bella.

"Thanks Emmett," Bella blushes as she grabs her plate and puts a small portion on it. "I hope you all enjoy it," she says as she starts to retreat towards the stairs.

"Where are you going," I ask.

"Um… my room?" she says more as a question.

"Why?"

"Uh, I don't really want to intrude on your time with your family. And I'm going to work on some homework because I don't know if I'll have time for it tomorrow."

"Bella you're not intruding on anything. Why don't you eat with us and then do your homework after. I'm sure it will be pretty hard to do both at the same time anyway."

"Thanks for the offer but I think I am just going to head up to my room, unless you don't want me to eat in there…" she trails off.

"That's fine. I told you before you could eat wherever you want. Enjoy your dinner," I dismiss as I turn around and take a bite of my own meal. "Mmm." _Oh my God, this is heaven_. This is the best fettuccini alfredo I have ever had.

I open my eyes and see my family members gaping at me like I have three heads or something. I wipe the side of my mouth with my napkin, "what?"

"What was _that_ about," Alice asked.

My eyebrows scrunch together in confusion, "what was what about?"

Alice rolls her eyes at me, "that little argument with Bella and that little moan you just did."

I blush a little bit and shrug my shoulders, "what? You know fettuccini alfredo is my favorite meal. And I am pretty sure this is the best tasting alfredo I have _ever_ had. As for the thing with Bella… that was nothing. She must just have a lot of homework to do. I don't know."

Alice huffs a little to herself. Then Jasper says, "didn't seem like nothing to me. Does she always cook meals for you and then leave?"

"No, we usually eat together for the most part except for in the mornings. She leaves a plate for me in the microwave generally."

"You're such an ass," Alice says exasperated. "I bet she thought you were expecting her to cook for all of us because you three lazy asses were reclining in the living room not moving."

"I didn't ask her to cook for everyone. I just went into the kitchen to see if she needed help and she told me to set the table."

"Well you didn't exactly tell her not to cook for us either," Alice huffed.

"Fine Alice, if it will make you happy I will talk to her about it later."

"Good."

Conversation over dinner was strained. After everyone was finished they decided to head out and I started cleaning up from dinner. I hope that Bella didn't think I expected her to cook for my family, or that she wasn't welcomed to eat with us. Lost in thought, I didn't notice Bella come in and silently start helping me. I jumped back a little, startled when she placed the leftovers in the refrigerator.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly. "I guess I was just getting you back," she chuckled.

I laughed a little. "Why didn't you stay and eat with us," I asked more seriously.

She looked at me questioningly, "I told you, I had some homework that I have to do. I didn't get to work on it today like I had hoped because I was out with Alice."

"So it's not because you didn't feel comfortable around my family? Or that you didn't think you could eat with us?"

"Uh, no… I like your family. They seem really nice. Alice is a firecracker. And Emmett seems… enthusiastic. Jasper is pretty cool… mellow. I think that him and Alice would balance each other out quite nicely."

I run my hand up the back of my neck, "I'm glad you like them. Alice was mad at me, she thought that I had said something to you… or… I don't know exactly what she thought. But she was disappointed that you didn't eat with us. And we all felt really bad that you made dinner and didn't eat with us. It was amazing, don't get me wrong, best fettuccini alfredo I have ever had, but I hope you didn't make it because you thought I expected it of you. That _we_ expected you to make it for us."

"No, I know you didn't expect me to make dinner for everyone. I did it because I wanted to. I mean I did feel like I was intruding a little, but I don't know… I guess I was _sort of_ hiding in my room. But I really did have homework to work on."

"Well next time, we would all really like it if you ate with us. That way we can all compliment your amazing cooking skills. Everyone couldn't get enough of it."

She smiled, "all right, next time."

We finished cleaning up the kitchen and then parted ways.

The next day I didn't see much of Bella. I heard her going from room to room every now and then and vacuuming occasionally. Later in the afternoon I heard her truck start and she left. Through most of the day I just caught up on some homework and did a little reading. I then retired to my room to watch a little TV. I heard Bella come in and close the door to her room, and that was last thing I remember before sleep overtook me.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry it took so long for an update. I have recently become obsessed with some games on my computer. I'll try to get another update out soon; hopefully I will be leaving for boot camp by the end of end of next month. I will find out next Wednesday so I am excited for that. Please review; it will give me incentive to keep writing instead of getting sidetracked doing other things. **

**Chapter 5**

The next few weeks went by relatively smoothly. Bella kept busy between cleaning the house, cooking, schoolwork, and catching up with her friends that she lost touch with when she was with Mike. I resumed my regular activities of school, reading, listening to music, watching TV, and playing the piano now and then. The only difference in my routine was having my meals made for me all the time, driving Bella to class, and occasionally helping her with her homework.

Bella and I slipped into an easy friendship of sorts. We didn't spend massive amounts of time together, but when we did we got along very well. Apart from the first few conversations we've had about her past, we haven't really delved into much deeper topics. I am too socially awkward to know where to begin forming any type of depth to our friendship, whereas it seems she feels like she can't because I am her boss. I don't really know how to approach the topic, but I want her to feel comfortable with me. I've never cared before what other people thought of me, however there is something about Bella that I can't wrap my brain around.

It's Friday afternoon, with two weeks left of the semester. Most weekends Bella is gone the majority of the time, and when she is home she is cleaning or doing homework. I have yet to see any of her friends come to the house, and I wonder why she isn't comfortable bringing them here.

We are walking into the house after returning from class and I decide to get her to possibly open up more to me. "Going out with your friends tonight," I ask.

"What," she asks distracted as she makes her way to the kitchen to make us something to eat. "Oh, yeah… I think we're just going to order some take out and veg on someone's sofa. It's been too long of week to go out."

"Why don't you invite them here? There's plenty of room in the living room and there's always the game room."

She continues her work without looking at me, "no it's fine. We're just going to go to Rose or Jake's place."

"Bella," I say in a stern voice, "this is your home too. I told you when I hired you that you could have friends over. It's really no inconvenience or anything; trust me. If you haven't noticed, I tend to stay in the library or piano room most of the time if you're worried about me being around. I want you to feel comfortable enough to invite your friends here."

She looks up at me studying my face for something I am unaware of. Eventually she nods her head, "ok. I'll have them come here tonight, but on one condition. If we get too loud or something you have to let me know. Promise?"

I smile, "I'm sure that won't be an issue, but if it gets to that point I will be sure to let you know."

The little bit of tension that arose from the conversation drifted away as we ate our meals and went our separate ways. I throw myself on the couch turning on the game and forgetting the world for a few hours. The sound of knocking on the door brings my attention to my surroundings once again as I make my way to the door. _That's weird; no one in my family knocks anymore_. I open the door surprised to see a man with russet skin and jet-black hair standing on my porch.

I raise an eyebrow at him, "can I help you?"

He looks me over warily, "I'm looking for Isabella Swan?"

"Oh, you mean Bella. Yeah she's just inside. And you are?"

"Jacob Black," he says extending his hand for me to shake. "You must be Edward."

_That's right, Bella was having people over_.

I shake his hand, "that's me. Come on in."

I close the door behind him as he comes through and I lead him to the living room. "Can I get you something to drink before I go get Bella?"

"I'll have a beer if you have one. Thanks." I grab a beer from the kitchen and hand it to Jacob before I start heading for the stairs.

"You don't have to get her right now, I'll just sit here and watch the game with you if you don't mind. Once Rosalie gets here I'm sure they'll take over the TV."

I chuckle and return to my pervious seat that I was in before Jacob arrived. "So I just want to throw this out there before Bella comes down, but I want to thank you. Although I was pissed when she told me that she moved in with a guy she didn't even know, and is working for him on top of that, it's a hell of lot better than where she was at before that. So thanks for getting her out of Eclipse and away from that douche of boyfriend she had. And let me make myself very clear, that if you ever so much as place a finger on her inappropriately, I don't care who you are; I will kick your ass. I know I probably shouldn't threaten her boss or whatever, but she means a lot to me and I won't see her get fucked over by anyone else."

I nod my head at him, "Jacob I would never do anything to harm Bella. I respect her. When I saw her at Eclipse I knew that I had to get her out of there. Then she showed up with her face all swollen and I couldn't have been happier to see her standing on my porch, not because she was hurt but because I knew that she would be safe now. I know that that might sound all wrong considering I didn't even know her at the time, but it was one of the best decisions I've made. So there's no need to thank me, and you don't have to worry about me hurting her. I would hurt myself before I ever did anything to her."

Jacob tensed during my little speech and I was a little worried that he would think I was a stalker or something by the way I made myself sound. He's clenching and unclenching his fists trying to control the anger that seems to be pouring off of him in waves. "Her face was swollen," he asked through clenched teeth.

"Uh, yeah… Bella never told you?"

"No she didn't. But I'm not surprised, she's always trying to keep things to herself because she thinks she can handle it. Did she tell you who did it? Was it Laurent, or Mike, or James?"

"I don't know who James is, but it was Mike. They got in a fight after she quit Eclipse and she told him that she was moving out. He stormed out of the house and got there right before she was leaving and he hit her. I believe she said that she kneed him in the balls before she drove off."

"James was a guy that gave her a hard time at the club sometimes. He always tried to get with her but she refused." He gave a dark chuckle, "damn, that son of a bitch. If I would have known that Mike hit her he would have been in a world of pain. Maybe I should give him a little house visit…"

"I tried to get her to file a report against him, but she said she just wanted to forget about him."

"Yeah, Bella is pretty stubborn. I'll have to talk to her about it later. I wonder if she ever told Rose about it, then again if she did, Mike would be in world of hurt right about now. And I am pretty sure that Rose would have told me. Ugh, that just makes me so mad."

"What makes you mad?"

"Oh nothing, Edward and I were just discussing the game," Jacob says as he stands and makes his way over to Bella. He pulls her into a hug and says, "it's good to see you Bells. It's been what, twenty-four hours?"

She laughs, "Shut up Jacob. How long have you been here? Why didn't you come get me?"

"Oh I just thought I would watch a little bit of the game with Edward here before you women force another chick flick on me."

She rolls her eyes just as the doorbell rings. "Speak of the devil," Jacob murmurs under his breath.

I laugh and stand up ready to take my leave now that Bella and her other friend are here. I'm just about to start climbing the stairs when Bella's voice stops me, "where do you think you're going Mr. Cullen? I have to introduce you to Rosalie before you go hide in your book."

I'm a bit surprised by her statement of me hiding, but fully understanding the comment as I am constantly in the library. I turn around and brace myself for the now awkward introduction, not fully prepared for the woman I am about to meet. She's tall, blonde, and nothing like I imagined her to be. I was picturing someone down to earth like Bella, who's comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt, not a model.

"Um, hello my name is Edward Cullen," I stammer as I extend my hand for her to shake.

I see her eyes rack over my body scrutinizing every last inch of me, making me feel uncomfortable, before our eyes finally meet. She steps forward and accepts my hand squeezing it with unnecessary force. "The name's Rosalie Hale, and don't you forget it."

I hear Bella huff a little bit behind me and start to speak before I cut her off. "Well aren't you full of yourself. You and your mirror must be pretty good friends I'm assuming." _Shit, did I just say that out loud?_

I'm expecting her to get mad and throw a tantrum, what I was not prepared for was for her to start laughing. And not just a little polite laugh, but a good belly laugh. I look at her questioningly wondering if she is going to slap me, instead she surprises me again by saying, "I like you. Not many people would have the gusts to say that to my face. Jake and Bella might be the only two people who _might_ say that to me, and even then I don't think they would."

"Um, all right then," I hesitate as I look over at Bella and Jake who both have looks of horror written all over their faces. Before I make an even bigger ass out of myself, I excuse myself and withdraw to the sanctuary of my piano room.

I can't believe that just happened. I tell Bella to invite her friends over and I immediately reveal one of her secrets to her friend and then insult the other one. _What the hell is wrong with me?_ I start pacing back and forth in front of the piano before I finally drop down onto the bench. Immediately my fingers are flying across the keys letting out my frustration on the piano in song. Eventually the songs become calmer as I relax and remorse takes over the anger that I have towards myself. I just wanted things to go well with Bella and her friends tonight so that she would feel more at home here, instead I ruin the few moments I have with her friends and the possibility of her inviting anyone else around.

Too lost in my self-deprecation, I don't notice I'm not alone until someone sits on the bench beside me. I stop playing and turn to see Rosalie sitting next to me.

"Don't stop on my account. Although your selections seem to have some dark themes running through them, I can't deny that you're pretty good."

I resume my playing choosing a lighter song, "I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I had no right to say those things to you, I don't even know you."

"You're right, you don't know me. But meeting me for all of thirty seconds, you sure hit the nail on the head. At least in a way. I don't really know why I came up here, but I just wanted to tell you not to beat yourself up over it. Bella said that you don't really have a filter most of the time and that you shut down after you say something "inappropriate" or whatever. I'm so used to people being intimidated by me that they don't tell me the truth, so in the future don't hold back from me. If you want to call me out, be my guest. Just don't be surprised if I give it right back. Now enough of the heart to heart, we're ordering some food, so get your ass downstairs and tell us what you want."

"Thanks for talking to me Rosalie, it means a lot."

"Don't mention it. _Seriously_, don't mention this to anyone, they'll think I'm going soft or something."

I laugh and we walk downstairs to join Bella and Jacob. As we enter the living they both eye us curiously but don't say anything.

"Look who I found on the way back," Rosalie states as she sits next to Bella.

I uncertainly sit down on an overstuffed chair and look at Bella as if asking permission if this is ok. She smiles at me and says, "We were just trying to decide what to order for dinner. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Do you guys like Chinese? There's a good place around here that I would order from a lot before you started cooking for me all the time."

They all laugh at this, "Chinese sounds good to me," Bella says as Jacob and Rosalie nod their heads in agreement.

I order the food for us as we all relax and talk waiting for it to arrive. It's weird seeing Bella interact with her friends. She's so free and open with them, not like when she's around me. She's nice and friendly with me, but after seeing her with them, I realize that it's just out of politeness when she's with me. This makes me sad. I thought that we were at least somewhat friends, but I guess that she doesn't really want to open up with me since I'm her boss. I'll have to work on that I decide.

The food arrives and everyone starts digging in. I take mine in my hand, "well you guys enjoy your night."

Bella looks up at me and raises an eyebrow, "where are you going?"

"I'm just going to go upstairs to leave you guys to your evening. Thank you for thinking of me when you ordered dinner, I appreciate the thought."

She waves me off, "It was no problem. You can stay down here with us if you want, we're just going to watch a movie."

"I don't want to intrude on your time with your friends. You said you've had a long week; you should relax with your friends. You don't need your boss hanging out with you."

She rolls her eyes, "I invited you to join us Edward. If I felt uncomfortable with it, I wouldn't have asked you. So if you want, you are more than welcome to stay."

I look at Jacob and Rosalie and find them both nodding their heads while they are eating. "Well if you're sure it's not an inconvenience, it would be nice to do something other than read for the evening."

I sit down and Bella turns on _Sherlock Holmes_. We eat our Chinese and enjoy the movie. Soon enough, the ending credits are rolling and everyone is stretching out their stiff muscles.

Bella yawns, "I have to say that I am glad that I don't have to drive home for once. You guys have had it so easy."

Jacob laughs, "it's not our fault you never invited us over."

Bella shrugs her shoulders and looks over at me briefly before closing her eyes and relaxing into the sofa, "no one asked your opinion Jake."

Rosalie laughs, "Yeah why is that Bella? Were you trying to keep Edward all to yourself? I wouldn't blame you if you were. Why did you never mention how fuck hot he is?"

I feel the heat rise to my face as I shift uncomfortably in my seat and look anywhere but at the people sitting around me. _Would it be impolite to just stand up and walk away_?

"Um, I think that I'm just going to go now. It was nice meeting you Rosalie and Jacob," I say as I start to stand up from my chair.

Jacob and Rosalie both laugh and repeat the sentiment as Bella says, "you don't have to leave Edward. Rose doesn't think before she speaks, she likes to make people uncomfortable."

Rosalie shrugs her shoulders before she says, "what? There has to be some reason you have never invited us over before. And you can't deny that he's practically sex on legs, I mean look at that hair."

I open and close my mouth several times having no idea what to say to this. I have only had women say things like that to me when I'm out at the bars with Emmett and Jasper, and then I just amounted it to them being drunk. I don't really have women approach me that often; if they do they don't stick around for very long.

"Ok Rose, even I am starting feel uncomfortable here," Jacob states looking between Rosalie and me. "It looks like the poor guy is freaking out over there."

I start to speak before Bella cuts me off, "just leave it alone Rose. We've had this discussion before."

I look around the room and decide it's time to leave. "Well, uh, you guys have a good rest of the night. You're welcome here whenever you want."

They all say their goodbyes as I head up the stairs. Once I reach the top of the stairs I hear them all start talking at once but I only make out Bella saying, "I can't believe you said that," before I'm in my room.

_Well that was an interesting night_. Bella's friends seem fun. Rosalie is a little intimidating and definitely plays that to her advantage. Jacob appears to be very fun and boisterous. He reminds me of Emmett, just not as loud or as big. _I wonder if I should introduce them_?

I lay on my bad after I have showered and think over the evening events once again. It felt like a roller coaster of things going from good to bad and back again in a continuous loop. I hope that I was able to make a good enough impression on them that they come back again. It was nice to have some company on a Friday night for once, it had been a while. Perhaps I should call up Emmett and Jasper tomorrow…


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

I awake the next morning feeling a little disorientated, not completely sure what to make of the previous night. I glance at the clock noticing it's a little after nine. I throw on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt and make my way to the kitchen only to find Bella making muffins.

"Hey," I mumble, still not fully awake, as I grab a mug of coffee.

"Hey, the muffins will be done soon if you want some."

"Thanks. So… did your friends have a good time last night," I ask.

She laughs softly, "Yeah they had a good time. Speaking of which, I just want to apologize for Rosalie making you uncomfortable last night. She tends to speak her mind and not think about how others will feel."

I wave her off, "you don't need to apologize to me Bella, especially for something as inconsequential as one of your friends making me feel uncomfortable. Being a little uncomfortable was nothing compared how I treated her when you introduced us. I should be the one apologizing, I didn't mean to insult your friend."

"Don't worry about it. I think she actually really respects you for that. Not many people stand up to her like that, usually Jake and I are the only ones to put her in her place."

I run my hand up the back of neck and into my hair, "That's a relief, I didn't want you to be mad at me for upsetting a friend of yours. You should bring them over more often; I like them. Just because _I_ never bring anyone over doesn't mean that you shouldn't. I don't really have any friends outside of my family," I shrug, "so feel free to bring over whomever."

She gives me a small smile, "I'm not mad at you at all Edward. Rose and Jake both expressed that they were happy to meet you and that you hung out with us for a while. They even mentioned doing it again sometime, so you made a good impression on them. And they did say something about coming back here again; I think they like your TV. "

We settle into easy conversation over our muffins before Bella excuses herself to finish cleaning up the kitchen and doing a few other chores around the house. After my second muffin, I withdraw to the library. I pick up my phone and scroll down my address book before settling on the desired contact, initiating conversation on the phone for the first time in I don't even know how long.

The phone rings twice before they answer. "What's wrong? Is everything okay," they ask instead of the typical greeting.

I roll my eyes, "does something have to be wrong in order for me to call you?"

"Well no but… you never call. I just figured it must be an emergency of some sort if you're actually using your phone. So what can I do for ya?"

"No, no emergency. I was just wondering if you want to hang out tonight and do something," I trail off.

There is long pause before I say, "Hello? Emmett?"

"Yeah, I'm here. But I think I must be losing connection, I don't think I heard you correctly."

"Oh, I was just asking if you want to hang out tonight."

"I'm sorry, my phone must really be breaking up cause I could have sworn you said you wanted to hang out."

"Ha, ha Emmett. Is that so surprising? Wait, don't answer that."

"Exactly my friend. What did you have in mind? You want to go back to Eclipse so you can hire a gardener or some shit?"

"Very funny. I don't know; I just want to do something low key. Do you just want to head down to O'Reilly's or something?"

"Sure. Is it just going to be us or is Jasper coming too?"

"Yeah, I was planning on him coming. Do you think you could give him a call?"

"Is one phone call your limit for the day Eddie," he teased.

"Shut up."

"Yeah, I'll call him you little pansy. Eight sound good?"

"Yeah, do you just want to meet here?"

"Sure thing. See ya later," and with that he hung up.

I look at my phone contemplating what Emmett said. I guess I should probably make more of an effort with my brother, and other people in general I suppose. I miss spending time with Alice, but now she has Jasper so I don't want to intrude on their time together.

The afternoon passes slowly and I don't see much of Bella. I could hear her throughout the house cleaning various rooms, but never actually coming in contact with her. I wonder what she thinks of our relationship. Does she think of me as her friend, or just simply her boss? I wonder if she has a new boyfriend. She hasn't mentioned anyone and she always seems to be out with Jacob or Rosalie, but perhaps she doesn't feel comfortable talking with me about it.

I hear the front door slam shut and hear Bella give a slight yelp. Curious as to what's going on, I make my way downstairs. I find Emmett talking with Bella while her head is thrown back in laughter.

"Hey Emmett, is it eight already," I address him.

At the sound of my voice they quiet down and look over at me. "No, I thought I would swing by a little early. If you're willingly making plans to hang out, I thought I would milk it for all it's worth."

I roll my eyes at him as I approach them, "I'm not that bad Em."

"We are talking about the same person right?"

"Shut up. You remember Bella I presume?"

At this Emmett rolls his eyes, "Yes, Eddie, I remember your gorgeous housekeeper."

"Emmett," I say in a warning tone. I look over at Bella who is fidgeting nervously with her hands.

He puts his hands up in surrender, "Sorry, sorry. Did you want to watch some of the game or shoot some pool or something?"

"Let's see if we can find the game," I say motioning towards the living room. "Do you want to join us Bella?"

She laughs a little, "no, that's okay. I have a couple things to finish up, but thanks for the offer."

A half-hour later Bella strolls into the living room and places some muffins and sandwiches on the coffee table in front of us. We mumble our thanks and two minutes later she returns with beers for each of us and takes a seat on the overstuffed chair.

An hour later, we hear the front door open as Alice skips in followed by Jasper.

"Alice, you really should knock," Jasper admonishes.

"Don't even bother Jazz, I've been trying to get her to do that for years. I think she just needs a collar with bells," I say.

"Hey!" Alice yells with her hands on her hips.

"Well this is a surprise Al, I didn't know you were coming."

"Well when Jazz told me that _you_ called Emmett to hang out for once, I couldn't pass up the chance. And why wouldn't _you_ have called _me_? And since when would you rather hang out with Emmett instead of me?"

"Hey, I resent that," Emmett says.

"I guess I didn't really think about it. Usually it's just Jazz, Em, and me when we hang out. You're the one that is always saying something about male bonding," I say waving my hand in the air to emphasize the point.

"He got you there," Emmett states.

"Well that was before there was another girl, duh. I couldn't leave Bella to deal with all three of you nimrods by herself."

Before I can say anything Bella chimes in, "I'm not going Alice."

"Of course you are. We're going to have so much fun," she says clapping her hands to together.

"Uh," Bella stammers looking at me anxiously, as if asking what she should do.

"You should come Bella, it will be fun. We're just going down to O'Reilly's," I say extending the invitation to her. _Why didn't I think of that before_?

"I was actually just going to stay in tonight, do a little reading for once."

"Come on Bells, don't you want to spend time with us," Emmett says giving her his puppy dogface.

"Please Bella," Alice pouts.

"Um, sure," she says more like a question looking between the two of them.

"Damn, she didn't even have a chance against the Cullen pout. And not just one, but two," Jasper chuckles to himself. Bella looks at him quizzically, "you can never say no the Cullen pout," he says as if to explain further. Bella glances over to me and I just shrug my shoulders not having any idea what he's talking about.

"Well I'm going to go change since Emmett showed up early," I say.

"Oh Bella, I can help you get ready. Let's go," Alice exclaims.

Before Bella can even reply, Alice grabs her hand and drags her upstairs. I chuckle to myself as I follow them up. I hear Bella mumble something along the lines of "overexcited pixie," and laugh even louder.

"Shut up Edward," Alice shouts at me over her shoulder.

After my shower I'm standing in front of my mirror messing with my hair when there's a knock at the door in my bedroom. I holler for them to enter making sure the towel around my waist is secure before opening the door in my bathroom. On the other side, I find Bella standing with a robe on and curlers in her hair.

I see her eyes raking over my body and shift uncomfortably under her scrutiny. I clear my throat and Bella's head snaps to mine. Raising an eyebrow I ask, "Can I help you with something Bella?"

"Um yeah," she says somewhat breathlessly. _I wonder what that's about_. "I ran out of toothpaste, and was wondering if I could borrow some."

I chuckle and shake my head turning around. I bend over slightly, opening a drawer to retrieve the toothpaste and hear Bella's breath hitch behind me. _I wonder what has gotten into her today. _Turning around once again, I smile and hand her the tube before returning to my pervious attempt at taming my mane. Realizing she hasn't left yet, I turn and ask, "is there something else Bella?"

She shakes her head, as if to clear it and says, "No." After a brief pause she continues, "It looks like you're having a little bit of trouble there. Need some help?"

I give her my crooked smile and shrug, "it never does what I want it to. But be my guest."

Needing no further invitation, Bella enters my bathroom and sits on my counter while instructing me to bend down so she can reach it properly. I comply and hunch over placing one hand on either side of her legs on the counter to support myself. She sets the tube down, reaches her little hands into my hair, and starts running her fingers through it. Loving the sensation of someone else's fingers in my hair, I close my eyes and enjoy it.

Lost in the amazing feeling, I don't notice anyone else approach until I hear a throat clear in the doorway. Turning towards the door, Alice asks with a small scowl on her face, "How long does it take to borrow toothpaste Bella?"

After taking in our position, her face brightens as I straighten up and grab Bella's hips helping her to hop off the counter. "Um…" she stammers, "I was just helping Edward try and tame his hair."

"Sure, sure," she says extending her arm to Bella, "Edward can handle it, we have to finish getting _you_ ready." Bella takes her hand as Alice drags her out of my room.

"That was weird," I mumble to myself.

Finishing up in the bathroom I go in my room to get dressed. I throw on a pair of dark wash jeans, and a white-collar shirt with the sleeves rolled up to my elbows. After I spray on a little cologne, I head downstairs to join Emmett and Jasper to wait for the girls.

Fifteen minutes later they finally descend the stairs. Bella is wearing a pair of black skinny jeans and a red shirt with matching red pumps. Her mahogany hair is flowing down her back in loose curls, calling out for me to run my hands through it. _It's only fair; she got to touch mine. _I approach her slowly, making sure she is not an illusion my mind has created.

"Bella," I say breathlessly. _I wonder if was the same reason for why Bella was breathless earlier._ "You look… beautiful."

A deep blush covers her cheeks as she mumbles "thank you." Checking me over herself she says, "You don't look half bad yourself Mr. Cullen." _That's right, keep it professional Cullen, she's your housekeeper._

"I've never seen you in heels before, Alice couldn't have possibly predicted that you needed those," I say alluding to Alice's psychic capabilities and her need to dress every member of our family.

She chuckles to herself, "no, she didn't buy these for me. You've seen Rose; she's just the same as Alice when it comes to clothes. I thought they were stashed safely in the back of my closet somewhere, but Alice somehow found them, hence why they are currently adorning my feet."

I laugh and shake my head, "Alice will be Alice. But for what it's worth, you look amazing tonight. You'll have to beat away the boys with a stick."

She throws her head back in laughter, "that is exactly what Alice said before she started mumbling something about you and women. I didn't really catch that part of it though."

"Are you two kids ready," Emmett yells at us.

With that we all head out to my Volvo and squeeze in so we don't have to take more than one car. We head over to O'Reilly's pub and settle into a corner booth. Jasper is sitting across from me on one end next to Alice, then Emmett and Bella, with me on the other end.

"Hi, my name is Jessica and I'll be your server tonight. What can I get for you," she asks looking to Jasper first. She's your average looking girl with flat brown hair, boring eyes, and too little clothing. Her eyes light up slightly when she reaches Emmett, noticing that there is no girl hanging on him as Alice was practically in Jasper's lap. When she gets to Bella I notice her scowl as she scribbles down her drink. Next she looks to me and her entire face lightens up as if she has won some sort of prize. I look at her quizzically as she says, "and what can I get for you handsome?"

"A Guiness is fine for now," I respond turning back to the table where I find all eyes on me. "What," I ask nervously as Jessica goes to fill our order.

"Is it always like that when you go out," Bella asks amused.

I raise an eyebrow at her, "Huh? I don't understand what you mean." The others laugh to themselves, as I grow increasingly annoyed.

"That waitress, she was practically eye fucking you," she says bluntly.

I look at her with wide eyes and hear Emmett snort to himself, "Our Eddie here doesn't exactly understand social cues all that well. Isn't that right Eddie," Emmett says reaching around Bella to mess up my hair.

"Shut up Emmett," I sulk. "She wasn't just acting strange towards me, she was doing that to you too Em. And it looked like she wanted to rip Bella apart which I didn't exactly understand either," I trail off.

"So much to learn Eddie," Emmett says with his hand over his heart. "She seemed slightly interested in me and then pissed that Bella was next to me because she thought we might be together. But you, she looked like a little kid in a candy store."

I open my mouth to reply, not knowing what to say to that exactly, as the waitress comes back with our drinks. She hands me mine last saying, "If there is _anything_ you need, don't hesitate to ask," heavily emphasizing anything. As she walks away the entire table erupts into laughter as I sit there dumbstruck. _What the hell was that?_

"Uh," I stammer, "that… just… what?"

Bella places her hand on my arm, sending a shock through my body, "You are completely unaware, aren't you," she giggles.

"I just… that it is just highly inappropriate," I stammer. "Why would she act like that," I think out loud.

"She just finds you attractive Edward. And because you're attractive, she thinks your shallow and would stoop to her level," Alice tries to explain to me as if I am a four-year old. "Bella would you do me a favor, and help Edward out whenever she comes back? Just make her think that he is taken so she'll back off."

Bella laughs a little, "Sure Alice, it almost hurts to see the lost look on his face when she is trying to hit on him," she says giving me a big smile.

"Alright, let's talk about something else shall we," I say trying to get the attention off of me.

"Sure," Alice chirps looking next to me, "So Bella, do you have a boyfriend?"

Bella chokes slightly on her drink, recovering quickly, she wipes her mouth, "uh, no, I don't. I haven't really felt the need for one after my last relationship ended. You're engaged right? When's the wedding?"

"Oh, well…" Alice rambles on about the wedding excitedly while the guys and I talk sports.

About ten minutes later, I feel Bella slide closer to my side putting one hand on my back while the other casually strokes my right arm. I stiffen minutely wondering what she's doing as she leans in and whispers in my ear, "Just act casual and go with it. Jessica is coming back over in this direction; just give her the impression that we're together so she'll leave you alone," she says as she leans away but snuggles up to my side.

I relax and sit back slightly as I reach around Bella and wrap my arm around her. She stiffens a little before relaxing into my side. I finally look back to others who are all staring at us with mouths agape. "What," I ask shifting nervously, squeezing Bella closer to me unconsciously.

Jasper is the first to snap out of it, "nothing, it just took us by surprise is all. One minute you're just sitting there and the next you two are snuggling like lovebirds. Sorry, it was just a little unsettling is all."

"It was Alice's idea," I say pointing to her. "And she's on her way back over here, so," I shrug, trailing off.

Before anyone else can comment on our new arrangement, Jessica returns. She looks at the empty glasses on the table before turning her attention to me, "did you need another?" Noticing our new position, she visibly deflates before glaring menacingly at Bella.

I squeeze Bella, once again bringing her even closer to me, as if that will protect her from Jessica's glare. "Yeah, we'll have another round thank you," I say before leaning my head down to Bella. "Is she gone yet," I whisper in her ear.

I feel her left hand causally settle on my thigh, as she giggles lightly. "Not yet," she says placing a chaste kiss below my ear, sending another shock throughout my body. _Save that tidbit to dissect later._ I hear Jessica huff dramatically before storming off. "Alright, she's gone," she pats my leg slightly before I straighten back up and turn to the others.

"Dude, if I didn't know any better, I would totally think you two were fucking," Emmett says in awe.

I roll my eyes, before Bella says, "And what makes you think that we're not?"

I blush a little before laughing at Emmett's wide eyes.

"I didn't know you had it in you Eddie," Emmett says after composing himself.

"Shut up Emmett, and stop calling me Eddie. You know I hate that name."

Jessica returns with our drinks, briefly looking at me before realizing that Bella is stilled glued to my side. Bella snuggles closer to me, resting her head on my shoulder as Jessica turns and stalks off. The table laughs at her retreating form as Bella resumes her previous position under my arm.

Conversation flows freely the next couple hours, with Bella and I acting like a couple whenever Jessica comes near. When it's time to leave I stand, and extend my hand to Bella to help her up. We walk out passing Jessica, hand in hand as I lead Bella to the car. Once we arrive home, Alice, Jasper, and Emmett leave to go to their respective homes as Bella and I enter the house.

We remove our shoes and jackets as we head up to our rooms. Stopping outside Bella's room she turns and looks at me shyly.

"Thank you for saving me tonight," I say brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. "I had a great time, and I know it was largely due to the fact that you were there. I know it wasn't what you were planning for the evening, but I'm glad that you came."

She smiles at me as she says, "I wouldn't have been anywhere else. I had a good time too, and I'm glad I could help you out of your predicament," she laughs quietly. "I'm your girl whenever you want the ladies to back off," she smirks at me.

I roll my eyes at her, "if I am ever in need again, you will be the first person I call," I say cheekily.

"But really Edward, thanks for inviting me out tonight. I had a great time with you and your family. We should all hang out again sometime."

"That can definitely be arranged. I know I can speak for them when I say that they love having you around Bella. _I_ love having you around. We should get Jacob and Rosalie to come with us too sometime," I add on.

"That would be great," Bella says through a yawn.

"Get some sleep," I say grabbing her hand and placing a small kiss on the back of it. "Goodnight Bella," I murmur turning towards my room. Looking back over my shoulder at her I whisper, "sweet dreams."

"Goodnight Edward.

With that, I close my door and strip out of my clothes as I make my way towards my bed and drop unceremoniously on to it. What a night. Who would have thought that I would have spent the night snuggling with a gorgeous woman, and not just any woman, but my housekeeper no less? _ What has gotten into me? _I cannot allow that to happen again, she is my employee. I can't let the lines blur that much, it's okay to be friends, but friends do not snuggle together whispering into each other's ears and giving kisses. Or do they? I don't really have any other friends to compare it to, at least not female friends. Whatever, I'll think about it more tomorrow, I'm too tired to think logically right now. I close my eyes and fall easily into sleep.

**A/N: Hey all, sorry about the delay. I would have been posted a little sooner but it would have been about 2,000 words shorter so I added on a little. Because of that, the bathroom was scene was added, originally that wasn't in there. So I hope you enjoyed. Please review.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The next morning I hesitantly make my way downstairs to the kitchen, curious as to how I will find Bella. Surprisingly, I don't see her anywhere, nor any sign that she was up before me. Making a snap decision, I check that her truck is still in the driveway before I write a quick note, throw on some shoes, and grab my keys.

Twenty minutes later, with my hands full I enter the kitchen to find Bella standing at the island reading my note. Her head swings in my direction when she hears the door, eyeing my hands.

"I thought that I would take care a breakfast for once," I explain lifting the tray of drinks and box of food in my hands. "Since I didn't feel like poisoning anyone this morning, I went to the bakery down the road," I explain further setting down my purchases on the counter next to her.

"That's thoughtful of you," she replies cheekily.

I laugh lightly, "I didn't know if you liked any drinks besides coffee, so I got a black coffee, cappuccino, hot chocolate, and tea. Take your pick," I say motioning to each of the drinks respectively.

"Thank you," she says choosing the hot chocolate. "For future reference, I like all of those. If I just want something warm I go for hot chocolate, but if it's caffeine I'm after then it's coffee all the way. Unless of course I feel like splurging then I'll go for the cappuccino or perhaps an espresso. And tea is good as long as I have sweetener," she embellishes.

"Duly noted," I say taping my temple. "As far as food goes, I just picked up a few baked goods. There's croissants, muffins, scones, donuts, and bagels," I follow by pointing out each item in the bakery box.

"Wow you sure went all out," she chuckles.

I shrug my shoulders, "like I said, I didn't know what you like so I just got a little of everything. And if we don't think we'll eat all of it in the next couple days, we can always donate it to the Emmett fund."

"Touché my friend," she smiles.

Choosing a butterscotch scone and the cappuccino, I select a seat at the counter and sit down. Bella grabs a croissant and takes the seat next to me, sipping her drink.

"So what are your plans for the day Ms. Bella," I ask.

"Well I should probably finish up some of my homework and then probably just reading a little bit. What about you Mr. Edward," she asks raising an eyebrow.

With half my mouth lifting into a smile I say, "probably the same. Except perhaps I'll throw a movie in there to mix it up."

After finishing up our breakfast, we walk into the living room and I motion for Bella to sit on the couch next to me. I place my left arm against the back of the couch with my cheek resting in my palm I say, "So Bella, I feel bad, you've been working for me for quite some time now and I don't know that much about you. Where did you grow up?"

"Um," she says sitting on the opposite end with her arms wrapped around her legs facing me. "I grew up in a small town called Forks. My dad is the police chief there and my mother is a teacher. I am an only child. What about you?"

"I grew up in Seattle here. My dad's a doctor and my mom is an interior decorator. And you've met my siblings. Emmett is two years older than Alice and I. We're twins if you didn't know that. We used to be pretty close, but," I shrug, "you know how that goes."

"I wish I had siblings. Even if you aren't as close as you used to be, I can still tell how much they love you. I don't mean to put you on the spot or anything, but I think they miss you. I mean just from what I caught Emmett saying last night when he came earlier, I think he wants to spend more time with you."

Running my hand through my hair nervously I confess, "I know, they've mentioned it to me before. But I just don't know _how_, if that makes any sense. I'm not the same person I was when we were younger. I don't even remember when it started exactly, but I just started separating myself from people. Now I barely even know how to act around my own family. I mean you saw me last night, I couldn't even tell that the waitress was trying to hit on me until you all pointed it out to me."

"Hey," she soothes, scooting closer and rubbing my leg comfortingly. "Don't even worry about that girl last night, that was nothing. And as for the others, they're your family; I know they understand. That's why Alice suggested that I help you scare off the waitress, she knew you were uncomfortable," she says while moving the hair that fell into my eyes.

Looking at her sadly from under my lashes I chuckle humorlessly, "here I wanted to get to know you more, and instead we discuss my social dysfunction. Great."

She gives me a sad smile, "there's plenty of time to get to know me; I'm not going anywhere. School will be done in a couple more weeks, and we'll have all the time in the world."

"Speaking of," I say standing slowly, "I should go do my homework."

She looks up at me and follows, "you're right, I have to do mine as well. If you decide to take a break and watch that movie, let me know and I'll watch it with you."

"Will do," and with that I hide away in my office to brood over our conversation while attempting to complete my homework.

A few hours later a knock at the door brings me out of my stupor. Bella pokes her head around the side of the door and looks over me appraisingly, "have you eaten," she asks.

I shake my head in the negative, "no," I reply.

Bella huffs a little before saying, "I'll make you something to eat, come down in ten minutes," and closes the door behind her before I can reply.

Too distracted to complete anymore of my homework, I follow Bella to the kitchen a few minutes later, feeling like a chastised child. I find her fishing around in the fridge looking for something to make. "I can make myself something to eat," I mumble, causing her to jump.

Looking at me over her shoulder she says, "If I left that up to you, you wouldn't eat at all. Or you would heat up something frozen or give yourself food poisoning."

Huffing exasperatedly I say, "I can take care of myself. I don't need you to do that for me."

Turing around fully, slamming the refrigerator door in the process, she yells at me, "are you firing me now? Cause that is what you're paying me for, is it not?"

Starting at her with wide eyes and open mouth I stutter, "No I'm not firing you," my feelings of annoyance disappearing immediately. "That's not what I meant. I just feel bad that you are always looking after me. It makes me feel like a child sometimes." Feeling tired all of a sudden, I slump down on a chair at the island. Resting my elbows on the counter I run my hands through my hair, eventually cradling my face in them.

Speaking more to the counter now than Bella, I continue, "with Maria I never really felt this way about her helping me. I just figured it was because she was a mother and she didn't want to give that up so she always did those things for me. But with you, with you I just feel incompetent. I mean you do everything for me. You make my food, do my laundry, and clean my house. The only thing you don't do is pay my bills it seems."

I hear Bella moving towards me and feel a hand on shoulder turning me towards her while the other runs soothing through my hair. "I don't mind doing those things for you Edward," she says quietly. "Really, I don't. It may be part of my job description, but I actually enjoy being able to do those things for you. You brought me into your house without even knowing me. You're so trusting, especially after finding me in a strip club of all places. Not many people would do that. It really meant a lot to me. And because of all of that, I was able to reconnect with my two best friends.

"So thank you. Doing things for you is just my way of repaying you for that. I do most of those things for myself anyway, so doing it for you is not a problem. The only problem I have is you always saying I don't have to do things for you. If I didn't want to do those things, I wouldn't. Don't question me every time, okay?"

"Okay," I nod in agreement. " And I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for. I'm the one that should be apologizing; I didn't mean to yell at you. I just sort of snapped."

"I think we both did, so how about we just call it even," I suggest.

She smiles at me, "that sounds good to me. Now what would you like to eat?"

"A sandwich is fine, thanks."

After we eat our sandwiches, we decide to watch a movie. Bella surprises me picking out _The Bourne Identity_. "I love this movie," I comment when she sits down next to me.

"Me too, but I like the third one the best."

"Agreed."

Half way through the movie, I hear a quiet snore coming from next to me. I look over at Bella and find her curled up in a ball at the other end of the sofa. Turning off the movie, I gently move Bella into a more comfortable position on the couch before covering her with a blanket.

As I turn around to head upstairs, a soft, "Edward," comes from behind me. Surprised, I turn back to Bella and notice she's still sound asleep. Confused, I crouch back down in front of her to see if she'll say anything else. After several minutes of silence, I softly stroke her porcelain features from her temple to the tip of her chin, "beautiful," I whisper. Snapping out of my trance, I realize how creepy it is that I'm watching my housekeeper sleep, and quickly go retrieve a book from the library. Instead of being cooped up in here like normal, I decide to take my book back to the living room and sit in the window seat.

An hour later, stirring on the couch brings my attention away from the book in my hands. "Have a nice nap," I ask, causing her to jump in surprise.

"Oh, you scared me. You usually never read in here," she observes. "But yes, I slept well. Thanks for the blanket," she motions to her lap.

I smile, "you're welcome. I didn't want you to get cold."

"So why are you reading in here," she presses.

I shrug, "I didn't feel like sitting in the library, I thought a change of scenery was in order."

Nodding her head she asks, "What time is it?"

"I think it's just after six. Do you want me to order something for dinner?"

"No, that's ok. I can make us something," she says heading towards the kitchen.

Losing interest in my book, I follow Bella to the kitchen and sit at the island watching her work. "You know, you could make yourself useful instead of just watching me," she mock scolds.

Giving her a sheepish grin I stand and wash my hands, "what can I do chef?"

She laughs, "You can stir that while I finish cutting up the vegetables for it," she says pointing to the fry pan on the stove.

"Yes ma'am," I salute. After several minutes of silence I say, "you should teach me how to cook, that way I won't kill anyone with my frightening cooking skills, or lack thereof," I add on.

"I guess I could do that," she agrees.

"I mean, you won't always be around, right," I ask rhetorically. "You'll get a boyfriend and move out eventually, I'll need to know how to fend for myself once you're gone. And I don't think I would be able to give up your delicious meals everyday," I say looking at her with my crooked grin, thinking about her amazing cooking skills.

I'm confused at the sudden look of pain crossing her features before she quickly controls her expression. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she says softly. Straining my ears I think I catch her mumble something along the lines of, "or you'll find a wife to cook for you," under her breath, but I couldn't be sure. "You can help me make dinner at night, and then we can eventually move on to breakfast after that," she says louder.

"Sounds perfect," I say turning back to the stove.

We finish making dinner, with Bella giving me a few cooking tips every now and then. We settle down to eat and I ask Bella how she learned to cook so well.

"Well, when your mother can't cook anything without burning it, you tend to pick it up. Unless of course you like eating that sort of thing," she says.

"If I did, I would cook more often," I smirk.

"Very true," she smiles. "It's a good thing your teacher is such an excellent cook."

"That she is," I emphasize by taking a big bite and moaning slightly. She rolls her eyes and laughs.

"So how did you meet Rosalie and Jacob?"

"Oh gosh, I've known Jake practically my whole life. My dad and his dad were friends. They always went fishing on the weekends and my dad would bring me every now and then. Jake went to school on the reservation in La Push so I didn't see him at school ever.

"That's when I met Rose and we became friends. Her and Jake didn't get along too well in the beginning, but once they realized that I wouldn't give either of them up, they started getting along. As the years went on, they had a mutual love for cars that brought them closer to each other. That's their thing now, and I'm always the one left out," she chuckles.

I smile at her carefree demeanor when she's speaking about her friends. I hope one day I can make her smile like that. After we're done eating, we clean up the kitchen together before returning to the living room. We watch the rest of the movie we were had on earlier before retiring to our rooms for the evening.

The next day after returning from class, Bella and I are eating lunch when I mention visitors coming over on Thursday. "I have a project for one my classes, so my group is coming over after class. I just wanted to let you know so that you're not surprised when other people are here. And I don't want you thinking that you have to make anything for us, I'm just going to order some pizza."

"Oh, okay. Thanks for letting me know. I'll make sure that I'm out of your way that day and that I do my work the day before so I don't disturb you guys."

"Don't worry about 'being in our way,' we'll manage just fine. You don't have to hide yourself in your room or anything." Running my hand up the back of my neck I say, "I was just thinking, how would you like to invite your friends over tomorrow night and I'll have my family come over and we can all hang out. I think that everyone would get along nicely, don't you?"

She laughs, "Yes, I think that they would. Jake and Emmett would have a blast and Rose and Alice could discuss shopping for hours. I'll call them up tonight and ask them."

"Man, my family will think something's wrong with me. I never use my phone ever, and now I'll be using it twice in one weekend. On top of that _I'm_ making plans for us to hang out again."

She gives me a huge smile, "I think that's progress Edward. I'm sure they'll be very happy to hear from you again, even if you did just see them a couple days ago. Are we going to make dinner for everyone or are we going to order in?"

"Oh, I guess we can make something. That way I can show them some of my new cooking skills. I'm sure there will be vast improvement in the past two days," I laugh at myself.

"You'd be surprised," she winks at me.

That night after Bella and I made dinner, I call Emmett and Alice to make arrangements for tomorrow evening. To say they were shocked to hear from me again so soon would be an understatement.

Tuesday after classes, Bella and I went grocery shopping to get ingredients for dinner. As much as I hate shopping, going with Bella is a treat. She knows exactly what she needs and makes the whole process as painless and quick as possible, if only Alice would pick up some tips from her.

Walking into the kitchen, we drop the vast amount of bags haphazardly on the floor and counter. I start putting away extra ingredients and supplies while Bella starts prepping for dinner. I plug my iPod into the stereo and fill the room with Bon Iver, David Gray, and the like.

"I never thought this would be your type of music," Bella comments.

I shrug my shoulders, "I have a wide range of musical likes; I am just in a mellow, alternative genre mood I suppose. I can crank up Muse if you'd rather," I offer.

"No, no, it's fine. I love _Skinny Love_. I just never pictured you listening to it."

"And what pry tell did you peg me for?"

"Um… Mozart," she says questioningly as she cleans the vegetables.

I chuckle, "I do love the classics, don't get me wrong. But just because I play the piano doesn't mean that's all I listen to. My rock and alternative genres outweigh the classical by far. And what do you listen to?"

"Anything except country and heavy metal I suppose. Lately I have been listening to a lot of Kings of Leon and The Script."

"Good choices," I comment. "Now what would you like me to do?"

After a couple hours of chopping, stirring, slicing, sautéing, etc, Bella and I take turns getting ready for our friends to arrive. At six o'clock, the doorbell rings signifying the start of the circus act I'm going to be attempting to keep under control.

As I start making my way to the door I hear Bella call out, "I'll get it," followed by the door opening and voices coming towards the kitchen.

"Hi Edward," Alice sings, embracing me in a hug.

"Alice, Jasper," I nod in his direction. "You used the doorbell," I state smiling.

She rolls her eyes, "Jasper insisted upon it tonight, saying something about it being proper."

"That's very considerate, thank you Jasper."

"Anytime," he chuckles. Stepping forward he offers me a bottle, "we brought wine."

"Thank you," I say finding a bottle opener, "this will go excellent with dinner."

As I start pouring glasses for us, Jacob and Rosalie wander in and I give the introductions. Just as we finish Emmett finally saunters in, "no need to worry, I'm here now. Eating can commence at any time."

I hear someone say, "Jesus," under their breath as Alice stage whispers to me, "Did Emmett just say 'commence?'"

"Hm… I think he did. I wonder if it's the word of the day," I ponder out loud.

The group laughs as Emmett says, "shut up."

Bella finally introduces Jacob and Rosalie to Emmett, and I have never seen Em stumble over himself when he sees Rosalie for the first time.

"Um… nice to… meet… you," he gets out eventually.

She looks at his hand as if it will give her an STD if she touches it, but reluctantly accepts it, "pleasure," she says with disgust evident in her voice as she quickly drops his hand.

Bella and I usher everyone into the dinning room after getting everyone a drink and promptly serve dinner.

"This is fantastic Bella," Rosalie comments.

"Yeah Bells, you really outdid yourself tonight," Jacob agrees as my siblings offer the same sentiments.

"Actually, Edward helped with a lot of it. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have been able to make this all," she corrects them.

"Don't be ridiculous Bella, I hardly did anything."

"Now you're just being modest Edward, you helped a lot," she insists.

I blush slightly at her persistence. "You cooked," Alice asks shocked.

"A little, Bella has been giving me cooking lessons. We just started a couple days ago, so it's not much, but it's a start," I explain.

"I'll say," Emmett agrees. "If I would have known before I started eating, I don't know if would have tried any of it, and that's saying something."

"Oh stop it," Bella chides, "Edward isn't that bad. He's helped me a couple times before, and now he is even better."

"That's because you're an amazing cook," Jacob says. "It's been far too long since you've cooked for Rose and I, Bella. Thank God Mike's gone."

"No, thank Edward," she says smiling at me as she pats my leg under the table.

I stiffen momentarily at the contact, but quickly relax squeezing her hand with my own before releasing it. "Yes thank you Edward," Rosalie agrees. "You brought us our friend back."

After dinner, the girls retreat to the kitchen to clean up, as the guys get comfortable in the living room. "So Edward, twice in one week, what's the occasion," Jasper asks.

I run my hand through my hair nervously, "nothing, Bella and I just thought that everyone would get along really well so we decided to throw a dinner party," I shrug.

"So Jacob, who's better in bed, Bella or Rosalie," Emmett says wasting no time, earning a smack on the head from Jasper and a death glare from me.

Jacob laughs heartily, "I couldn't tell you Emmett; I've never had that type of relationship with either of them. But from hearing them talk, I'd say Rosalie is more adventurous."

I see Emmett's eyes glaze over slightly, and I finally speak up, "Emmett, don't go there. I don't want you scaring off Bella's friends already."

"Don't worry Edward, Rose can definitely handle herself when it comes to attention from the male population. I'd say go for it Emmett, I'd like see you get your balls handed to you on a silver platter."

Jasper and I chuckle as a look of determination crosses Emmett's features. "Here we go," Jasper says under his breath as the girls enter the room. Alice climbs on to Jasper's lap as Bella sits between Jacob and I on the couch, leaving Rosalie next to Emmett on the loveseat.

Emmett clears his throat, "So Rosalie, did it hurt?"

She looks over at him crossing her arms over her chest defiantly, "did what hurt?"

"When you fell from heaven-," he starts before Rosalie places her hand over his mouth, effectively shutting him up.

"I could ask you the same thing when my stiletto is shoved up your ass, shall we try it out," she asks sweetly.

He shakes his no, as we all laugh around him. We settle into comfortable conversation over two more bottles of wine. Around ten, everyone says their goodbyes making plans to meet up again soon. Bella had fallen asleep leaning on Jacob; when he left he carefully rested her on the couch. After closing the door behind Alice and Jasper, I make my way back over to Bella, trying to decide if I should leave her or wake her up.

I ultimately decide to pick her up and carry her to her room, not wanting to wake her. As I lay her down on her bed, she clutches my shirt in her hand mumbling my name in her sleep. I smile fondly at her and run my hand down the side of her face moving her hair from her eyes. I gently remove her hand from my shirt and walk to the door. Looking over my shoulder I whisper, "sweet dreams Bella," and close the door, retreating to my own room for the night.

**A/N: Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I had a partial chapter for forever and then got writer's block. This chapter didn't really go how was planning it, so I'm sorry if I've disappointed you. I have been caught up writing my other story, and it's a lot harder to balance the two than I thought it would be. Please review, the more reviews I get the more incentive I will have to keep writing. Let me know what you think.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Waking the next morning, I walk downstairs to have breakfast. I head directly to the microwave opening it and finding it empty. Slightly confused, I look around the kitchen noticing there is no evidence of Bella being here this morning. Shrugging my shoulders, assuming she didn't make breakfast this morning, I eat a bowl of cereal.

Five minutes later, Bella rushes into the kitchen in sweatpants and a t-shirt. "Sorry, sorry. I just woke up I didn't get a chance to make breakfast this morning. I mysteriously ended up in my room last night so I didn't get a chance to set my alarm. It's lucky I woke up when I did or I would have missed class," she says hustling around the room grabbing various things for her day.

"S'okay," I say around a mouthful of cereal. "I was a little surprised but I just assumed you didn't feel like making anything. I would have checked on you eventually, I wouldn't have let you miss class unless you intended on it."

"Thanks. I just have a couple more things to grab in my room, and then we can go," she says as she runs up the stairs to her room.

I quickly put my dishes in the dishwasher and then grab my bag. I patiently wait for her by the door to the garage. Once I hear her coming down the stairs, I head to the car. As Bella settles down in the passenger seat she asks, "So I'm curious, how did I end up in my room last night? I don't remember walking up there."

"Oh, um…" I blush running my hand through my hair nervously. "I carried you up. I didn't want to wake you up and I thought you would be more comfortable in your bed than on the couch."

"Oh," she blushes. "I thought Jake might have taken me up. You didn't have to do that Edward, but thank you. That was sweet of you."

"Um, yeah don't mention it."

After class I ask Bella if she would like to join me for coffee, so we stop at Acoustic Café on the way home. Relaxing into the overstuffed chairs by the fire, Bella and I fall into easy conversation.

"So I think that last night was a success, don't you," I ask while taking a sip of my coffee.

"Mm…" She hums in response. "I think they all fit together quite nicely."

"Yeah, Em seemed pretty interested in Rosalie," I chuckle. "I've never seen a girl turn down his advances before; Jasper and I rather enjoyed it."

Rolling her eyes she says, "Yeah, she pretty much turns down everyone. I think she has her eye set on someone else right now though, otherwise Emmett would totally be her type."

"Poor Emmett," I say placing my hand over my heart in false sympathy. "He and Jacob got along just like we predicted."

"Yes, Alice and Rose too."

Thirty minutes later, we make our way home and head off on our own. Around dinnertime, Bella knocks on my office door telling me it's time to make dinner. We walk downstairs and begin our cooking dance, with Bella leading the way.

Patting my stomach in contentment I say, "Dinner was excellent Bella."

"I could say the same Mr. Cullen. Your cooking skills are coming along nicely. After school is out we can start on breakfast items if you're still interested."

"Of course, you'll have to teach me your amazing recipe for your muffins."

After everything is cleaned up from dinner, I settle down in the library grabbing a book while Bella runs about doing some of her chores for tomorrow. My mind begins to wander not too long after, thinking over the past few days.

Bella has become one of my closet friends in the past few days since we've been spending so much time together. We haven't exactly shared our deepest secrets or anything, but she is the only one I have talked to this much in a long time. During the day when something interesting or funny happens, I find myself itching to share it with Bella. I can't seem to wrap my mind around the pull I have towards her, I'm sure it's just because I'm around her so much. _Yeah, that's it_, I tell myself.

Maria was always around before, but we never sat down to talk ever. Or when we did talk, it was always about my eating habits or reclusiveness. We never talked about our interests or family like I do with Bella; there is just something about her that has me wanting to open up to her all the time. _I wonder if this is what it is like to have a best friend_.

I finally draw my attention away from my mindless wandering and notice it is visibly darker than I remember. I glance at the circular clock on the wall and am surprised to learn that it is nearing nine thirty. Deciding to call it a night, I shower, brush my teeth, and climb into bed.

During class on Thursday, I give directions to my partners telling them I'll see them at three. After Bella and I make it home, she quickly runs off to finish some of her chores as I grab my book, notes, and laptop and settle into the living room awaiting my partners' arrival.

I hear the doorbell and let Royce and James in.

"Hey guys, come on in," I say opening the door for them.

"It's a nice place you have here Cullen," Royce says looking over the place.

"Thanks, I have my stuff set up in the other room. Can I get you guys anything," I offer.

"No, I'm good man. Unless you have a beer or something," James says.

I laugh awkwardly at his joke, or at least what I hope is a joke. "Maybe after we're done with the project or when the pizza comes."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever," he replies.

I lead the way into the living room and we get down to work. I soon realize that my partners are complete idiots; it would have been better if I just did the project on my own. Several hours later, I order pizza as we're close to finishing. The doorbell rings just as I'm putting the finishing touches on it.

"I'll get it," Bella calls as she descends the stairs.

A couple minutes later she enters with the pizza and some plates, before quickly exiting and returning with three bottles of water for us.

"Thank you Bella," I smile.

"Yeah, thanks," Royce says around a mouthful of pizza.

"Thanks _Bella_," James smirks.

At James voice I see Bella stiffen as she slowly raises her head to meet James's eyes. "You're welcome," she splutters as she quickly retreats from the room.

Confused, I turn to James and see him staring after her with a peculiar look on his face. Before I can ask him about their strange encounter Royce asks in awe, "You have hired help? Have you tapped that?"

My hand curls into a fist reflexively, "No, and I don't appreciate you speaking about her that way," I say being vague about which question I am actually answering, not wanting to reveal to them that she does work for me.

Just as he opens his mouth to speak again, the front door bursts open and Emmett strolls in. "Hey man," he says grabbing a piece of pizza and reclining in a chair with his feet propped up on the coffee table.

"Emmett, what are you doing here," I ask bemused by his sudden appearance in my living room.

"Oh," he says swallowing his bite. "I just wanted to talk about throwing a party here next weekend after the semester is over."

"Huh? What makes you think I want to throw a party?"

"Well, you've been more social lately so I thought we'd throw a party so maybe you can find a girl and get laid. And plus you, Alice, and Bella & Co. are finally graduating. Alice is already planning it and inviting people, all you have to do is walk downstairs."

"Emmett-," I start to say before he cuts me off again.

"You guys can come too," he says to Royce and James. "The more the merrier. But listen Ed; I have to get going, I thought I'd just give you a heads up before the pixie shows up next weekend. Thanks for the pizza," he grabs another slice and walks out.

Still stunned, looking at the closed door, Royce breaks my concentration, "Yeah thanks for the pizza, but I gotta split too. See ya in class and I'll be here for the party."

"Me too, see ya around Cullen," James says following Royce out the door.

"What the hell just happened," I wonder out loud.

"I was just wondering the same thing," Bella says entering the room. Grabbing a piece of pizza she sits down next to me. "I thought I heard Emmett's voice so I came to investigate, only to find an empty room."

"Uh, yeah, it was weird. He just showed up, walked in, grabbed some pizza, said something about a party next weekend, and left."

"Weird," she agrees.

We finish the pizza, and I clean up my scattered notes and books from the project, the odd tension between Bella and James completely forgotten in the Emmett tornado.

The following weekend was spent with our new little group of friends hanging out at my place or going to the bars. Emmett's number of failed attempts to win Rosalie over steadily increasing. To thwart Em's attempt at flattery, Rosalie spent a lot of time by me trying to ignore him. It was a little confusing at first why she was spending so much time with me, but she eventually told me her intentions.

Emmett noticing Rosalie's lack of attention towards him soon tired of seeking her out. Most of the weekend I spent with Rosalie, not noticing the others around me. Sunday night brought new light on the situation.

Bella and I were sitting relaxing on the sofa before bed when she brought it up, "So you and Rose seemed to be getting along pretty well this weekend," she observed.

I shrugged, "Yeah, she said she was trying to subtlety shake off Emmett. So I was just helping her with that. She's actually nice when she wants to be," I noted.

"That's not all she was after by talking to you."

I look at her confused, "What do you mean? What other reason is there?"

"Edward," she laughed quietly, "she wasn't just trying to get rid of Emmett. She was flirting with you all weekend long. I felt so bad for Emmett when he realized that she was going after you instead of him. At first he thought she was just trying to make him jealous, but then I told him she was like that before he came along.

"And I've never seen Rose so frustrated before either," she laughed at her own private joke. "She was doing everything to get your attention and you didn't even react to anything. Didn't you think that it was weird that she kept touching you whenever she could or laughing at things that weren't funny?"

"Uh…" I stuttered. "I don't know what you're talking about. Rosalie was not flirting with me, and she is definitely not interested in me."

She raised her eyebrow at me, "And what makes you think that she's not interested in you?"

"Um…" I stammered, trying to come up with something. "She just doesn't; women aren't interested in me that way, especially once they get to know me."

"Edward," she said exasperated, "you've changed a lot from when I first met you. She's obviously gotten to know you during the past week. And trust me; Rose does not waste her time on guys she's not interested in."

"You don't know what you're talking about Bella. Someone like Rose would never be interested in someone like me."

She sighed and looked off to the side before continuing, "I guess you've changed socially but you still can't pick up on signals that are staring you in the face. You should ask Rose out Edward, and then you'd know for sure," she trailed off softly.

I thought about it for a few minutes before speaking, "No, that's okay. I'm not interested in Rosalie like that. I think of her more like a friend or sister than anything. We don't really share the same interests. I love books and music, and I know she would never be able to stay still long enough to really enjoy any of that. She is far to outgoing for me; I'm a homebody. We wouldn't really mix."

"Wow, you've seemed to have thought that through."

"I didn't really think of it until you mentioned Rosalie's apparent attraction to me. I guess I just always saw the differences between us and never thought of her as anything other than a friend. It wasn't a conscious decision; it just worked out that way."

"Oh. Well I think you should perhaps speak with Rose about it then, she might take your friendliness as more."

"If I have time I'll speak with her next weekend."

It's now Friday, and Bella and I are finally back to our easy friendship. Ever since our conversation last Sunday, there has been unresolved tension lurking between us. During the week we were both busy with finals and studying to have another talk, but it seems that after our last final today, the tension evaporated with it. Perhaps we were both just too stressed from school to pay attention to anything else.

Not five minutes after we were home from class, Alice bounces through the front door carrying various bags of supplies.

"Bella, I need your help," she calls.

Bella rushes to Alice's aide, grabs some of the bags, and brings them into the kitchen where we were making lunch. "What are you doing," Alice exclaims looking at the mess of ingredients on the counter.

"We just got home, we're making lunch," I explain, while grabbing some bread to make a sandwich.

Alice quickly takes the bread from my hands and puts it back in the bag. "Hey! I was using that."

"There's no time for that Edward. People are going to be arriving in six hours; you can eat then. Now clean this mess up, we have work to do."

Out of the corner of my eye I see Bella looking at Alice dumbfounded while I just shake my head and do as I'm told, no need getting on Alice's bad side two minutes in to her being here. I quickly clean up and sneak up to the game room, knowing that would be the last place Alice would look for me. I turn on the TV and lay back on the black leather sofa enjoying the freedom of classes being done while I hear Alice giving Bella orders. I feel bad leaving Bella in the pixie's hands, but not enough to attempt a rescue mission.

"Edward!" Alice screams, waking me from my nap. "Get up, you have to get ready. Your clothes are laid out on your bed. I'm already mad that you were hiding all afternoon, so you better be ready in a half hour." I open my eyes and notice that it's considerably darker; glancing at my watch I notice it's nearing eight o'clock.

I mumble a response as I wipe the sleep from my eyes. I go to my room, shower, and get dressed as per Alice's request. I walk downstairs and scowl at the new arrangements to my house. Anything expensive or breakable seems to have disappeared replaced by party decorations. I walk to the kitchen and find bottles of liquor lining the counter. _God, I hope she didn't invite too many people; I do not want to clean up this shit in the morning_.

I grab a cup and make myself a drink to wake myself up. I open the fridge to grab something to eat and find a sandwich already made with my name written on the plastic wrapping in Bella's handwriting. Smiling to myself, I take the sandwich and eat it quickly before quests arrive or Alice finds me, whichever comes first.

Just as I'm finishing, I hear someone knock on the door. I open the door reveling Jasper and Emmett. "I'm surprised you guys weren't here earlier. Alice didn't enlist your help?"

They laugh as they head to the kitchen to make a drink. "She tried but we made some shit up and got out of it," Emmett says. "Are you okay man, you look like shit."

"Gee thanks Em," I say sarcastically. "I just got up not too long ago; I'm still trying to wake up."

"Well you better shape up," he says slapping me on the back. "You won't get any chicks looking like that."

I roll my eyes and am about to respond when Alice and Bella walk in. Alice is wearing a pink halter dress and silver pumps while Bella is wearing a navy blue strapless dress that is form fitting down to her hips where the dress then comes away from her body in a slight poof with matching blue pumps.

Emmett's whistling breaks me out of my trance. "Hot damn ladies. Jazz, you better keep an eye on my baby sister, guys are pricks even if they see a ring on their finger," he says more seriously.

"You don't need to remind me Emmett, and besides I would never let Alice be out of my reach."

"And Bella if you need help beating the boys away, just come find your big brother and I will gladly take care of the problem."

She blushes at his comment. "Thanks Em, I'll try to remember that," she says as she walks over to me.

"You look beautiful Bella," I say. "Can I get you a drink?"

"Thank you, and I would love a drink."

I smile and make her a drink. In the mean time I hear a knock at the door and Alice answers it letting Jacob and Rosalie in. They greet everyone and Rosalie makes her way over to Bella and me.

"Rosalie," I nod in greeting. "Would you like a drink?"

"Sure, I'll have whatever you're having," she smiles at me. Turning her attention to Bella she says, "I think Jake wanted to talk to you about something, you should go talk to him."

Bella gives Rosalie a tight smile and walks over by Jacob. _That's odd, there seems to be some tension between those two_. "So Rosalie, how'd your finals go? Happy to have finally graduated" I ask.

She turns back to me and smiles brightly, "Great, I think I passed them all. And graduation tomorrow can't come soon enough. Hey so I was wondering if you would kind of stick by me tonight, I don't really want guys approaching me if you know what I mean."

"Um, I guess. I think Emmett would do better at that then me though, he's a little more intimidating than I am," I say handing her drink.

She grabs the drink and lets her hand linger on mine longer than necessary. Hearing the door, I excuse myself to greet people. Over the next hour I stay busy opening the door for new arrivals, effectively staying away from Rosalie. If what Bella said the other day is true, I don't want to give Rosalie any false assumptions about our relationship, or lack there of.

I eventually leave my post of greeter and make way back to the kitchen to get another drink. I take my drink and walk into the living room where the music is pounding and the majority of the people have gathered. Off to one side I see Alice and Jasper wrapped in each other. Next I spot Emmett and Jacob dancing in the middle of the floor, surrounded by women. I chuckle at their antics and spot Rosalie talking with Royce and a distracted looking James. I see Bella off to the side talking to girl I don't recognize. She catches me looking at her and smiles turning her attention back to her friend.

"Hi my name is Lauren, what's yours?" a blond girl asks.

I look her over and grimace, thinking she would fit in more at Eclipse. "Edward," I say curtly.

"Edward, I like that name. You don't hear that name too often anymore." Assuming she's just thinking out loud, I don't offer a response. "So do you go to school?"

"Yes I just graduated and I'll be going to med school in the fall. You?" I ask to be polite.

She then goes off on a tangent about herself, which I effectively tune out. "I need another drink," I say cutting her off mid sentence and briskly walking by her.

"Oh I need one too, I'll come with you," she says trailing behind me

"Great," I mumble under my breath. I make myself another drink without offering to make one for her, hoping to escape her as soon as I'm done. I get my drink and quickly flee the kitchen only to run into Rosalie spilling my drink on her.

"I'm so sorry Rosalie, come here," I say grabbing her hand and leading her upstairs to my bathroom.

I grab a towel and hand it to her while I grab another one, wetting it a little to get the stickiness off her arm. "I'm so sorry Rosalie; I wasn't looking where I was going. Is your dress ruined now?"

She chuckles a little, "No it's not ruined. Most of it got on my arm; you can't even see where it got on my dress. You're lucky I like you though, if it were anyone else I would be yelling a list of profanities at you."

"Well thank the lord for small miracles," I smile at her. After a few more minutes of clean up I ask, "Are you all set, did you want to go back downstairs?"

"Sure let's go," she says grabbing my hand and giving it a small squeeze.

As we walk down the stairs I notice Rosalie start to fidget and readjust her dress. I turn to face her and say, "Stop fidgeting Rosalie, like you said, you can't even tell anything was spilled. No one will notice."

She smiles at me, "I know, it just makes me self conscious. And you can call me Rose you know, you don't have to be so formal all the time Edward."

I smile back at her. "I'll keep that in mind."

Once we reach the bottom, I notice a few people looking at us curiously and I start to feel uncomfortable. "Why are people looking at us like that," I whisper in Rose's ear.

"Who cares," she says with a certain gleam in eyes, making me feel like I'm missing something. "Let's go get another drink."

I make us some drinks as Lauren saunters back in. "Hey Eddie. Oh, you're making me a drink, that's so sweet of you," she says reaching for the second cup.

"Actually that's mine," Rose says grabbing the cup from Lauren's hand and wrapping her arm around my waist. "Let's go _Edward_."

I gratefully follow Rosalie out of the kitchen and find a spot on the sofa for us to sit. "Thanks for saving me back there Rose. She's been driving me insane for the past hour."

"No problem, bitch needs to learn to keep her hands off what's not hers."

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Bella walk upstairs and hope that she isn't sick or anything. After another hour of mindless chatter with Rose, I get up to make us some more drinks. I give Rose hers and tell her that I'm going to go talk to Emmett for a little bit. She makes a face and walks back over to Royce.

On my way to go talk to Emmett, I stop and talk to Alice and Jasper for a little bit. After a couple minutes Alice asks, "Hey has anyone seen Bella lately?"

Jazz shakes his head no. "I saw her maybe an hour ago," I say glancing at my watch noticing it's close to midnight. "She was going upstairs, but I never saw her come back down."

"Oh, maybe I should go check on her," she muses.

"I'll do it; I was heading over in that direction anyway."

"Okay," she concedes.

I say goodbye and disappear into the throng of people. "Hey Edward," Emmett grabs my arm when I'm passing him. "Where you off to? You can't ditch already, it is your party after all."

I roll my eyes at him, "I wasn't ditching; I was going to look for Bella. Have you seen her lately?"

"No I haven't seen her in a while. I saw her talking to some guy a couple hours ago and then she went upstairs I think."

"Yeah I saw her go up too, but I haven't seen her since. I'm just going to make sure she's okay."

"I'll come too. I don't want my new little sister to be sick."

I smile at his easy acceptance of Bella into our little fold. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised as she is the one that has brought us all together again. If it weren't for her, I would still be a recluse. We walk up the stairs and Emmett stops to use the bathroom as I move to knock on Bella's door.

There's no response so I knock again, "Bella? Are you in there? I just wanted to check to make sure you're okay."

I hear some rustling around and some muffled words but I couldn't be sure if it came from her room or not. "Bella?" I call knocking on the door again. I try the door handle and find out it's locked. _That's odd; Bella never locks her door_.

"Bella," I yell louder, banging on her door now. Emmett finally comes out of the bathroom, asking what's going on.

"The doors locked and she's not answering me at all. Something is wrong Emmett, Bella never locks her door."

"She could have just locked it so no one would bother her," he tries to comfort. "Or maybe someone is in there doing the nasty and they don't want to be found out." He bangs on the door, "Bella, it's Emmett. Open up the door, we just want to make sure you're okay."

After a couple more tries, Emmett finally decides to break down the door. A few attempts later, he breaks the door and stumbles in the room. The sight before me is not one I was expecting to find. Bella is lying sprawled out on her bed with a half dressed man on top of her and her hands tied to the headboard above her. I hear her whimpering underneath his hand that is covering her mouth.

I run over to the bed and tear the guy off of her. As he falls to the ground I recognize him as one of my partners from a couple weeks ago, James. "What the fuck man," he shouts at me. "Can't you see that we're a little busy here?"

"You filthy piece of shit, get the fuck out of my house," I holler at the poor excuse of a man. "And if I ever see you again, watch your fucking back cause I will kill you," I seethe. "Emmett, get this fucker out of here and clear the place out. The party is over. Get Jazz to check all the rooms and find Rosalie. She was with Royce last I saw her and if he's anything like his friend here, Rose could be in trouble too."

"Shit. I'll take care of it," he says grabbing the dirt bag and hauling his ass out of the room, closing the door as best he can behind him.

I finally turn my attention back to Bella who is crying hysterically with tears streaming down her face. I rush to her side and untie her hands from the restraints. She immediately curls into a fetal position and tires to cover herself, drawing my attention to her state of undress. She is completely nude except for a pair of navy blue lace panties.

"Bella, shh," I try to soothe. "You're all right; you're safe now."

I quickly unbutton my shirt and cover her with it, hoping to make her more comfortable. Not knowing what else to do, I lie down beside her and gently stroke her hair. She flinches from touch and I instantly stop, not wanting to scare her anymore. "What can I do, tell me what to do and I'll do it," I plead with tears of my own unconsciously falling from eyes.

In the background I can her Emmett yelling at everyone as the music is turned off. Someone sprints up the stairs and starts frantically opening the doors to all the rooms, checking for any remaining people I'm assuming. With the knowledge that my family is taking care of everything, I focus back on Bella.

A knock at the door brings me out of my reverie. "Bella, it's Rose and Jacob. Are you okay? We heard what happened, can we come in?" Rose cries from the other side of the door.

Bella recoils at the intrusion and murmurs to me, "I don't want to see anyone, don't let them in. Please," she begs.

"Okay," I agree. I start get up from the bed to talk to them when Bella grabs my t-shirt in her fist, "Don't leave me," she pleads.

"I'm not going to leave you; I'm just going to go talk to them," I explain.

"I don't want you to go; stay here," she sobs more.

"Bella," Rose calls again.

I gently extract myself from Bella's grip and crack open the door where the handle used to be. "She doesn't want to see anyone right now. Go home and one of us will call you in the morning for an update."

"We just want to see that's so okay man. She's been our best friend for the past fifteen years, if anyone is going to be with her, it should be one of us," Jacob says firmly.

"I'm not here to argue with you Jacob. It's Bella's decision and she doesn't want to see anyone right now, she's still pretty shaken up. So if you could just spread the message for everyone to go home, including my family, I would appreciate that."

"We're not leaving her when she needs us most," he says.

I hear Bella's cries pick up from behind me again, "Listen I have to get back, she doesn't want to see anyone right now. I'll call you as soon as she's ready."

"We're not leaving," Rose chimes in.

"Fine, you guys can sleep downstairs or whatever. Ask Alice where extra pillows and blankets are. See you in the morning," I say closing the door in their face.

I quickly make my way back to Bella and lay down next to her, running my hand through her hair. "I'm back, shh," I comfort.

"Don't leave me again; he'll come back."

"He won't come back, and if he does he won't lay a finger on you. I won't let that ever happen again," I promise.

I hear the door creaking open and I snap my head in that direction to see who the intruder is. Bella whimpers and clings onto me at the sound as Alice softly asks, "Is she okay?"

I shake my head, "She just wants to be left alone right now; can you please tell everyone to leave us be? That's fine if you all want to stay but please keep it down."

"Sure," she says while closing the door behind her.

"I'm sorry," I apologize to Bella. "I would lock the door but Emmett busted the door up pretty good and there is no longer a handle."

"I don't want to be in here anymore, can we go to another room please? Anytime I hear something at the door I think of _him_."

"Of course," I say. I get up from the bed and scoop Bella into my arms before she makes any move to get up herself. I take her to my room and close the door with my foot, setting her on the bed. "Do have any pajamas that you want me to grab for you?"

She shakes her head, "No, I'll just wear this," she says putting her arms through the shirt I had resting on her from before. I button up the shirt for her, ignoring her bare skin and pull down the sheets for her to climb in. She lays back and I bring the covers back over her and kiss her forehead before going over to lock the door.

I hear Bella start crying again and I rush back to her side, "Shh, what is it? What's wrong?"

"Why'd you lock the door," she sniffles.

"I didn't want anyone to just walk in again, and I thought you might feel safer knowing that no one else could get in."

"_He_ locked the door. _He_ didn't want anyone to walk in either."

"Oh Bella, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking; I can unlock it."

"As long as you're sure it's just us in here, it's fine. I trust you."

I smile sadly at her and kiss her forehead again. "Thank you for trusting me. It is just us; I'm going to go change and I'll be right back, okay?"

"Hurry back," she whispers.

"Of course," I say and grab a pair of pajama pants and a clean t-shirt from my dresser.

I quickly change in the bathroom and after I'm done, I head back to the bedroom and toss my dirty clothes in the corner. I hesitantly make my way to the bed and lay down on the top of covers, not wanting to overstep any boundaries.

"Why didn't you get under the covers," Bella asks turning over to look at me.

I look at her sheepishly, "I didn't know if you would be comfortable after what happened tonight."

"I trust you Edward; I know you won't hurt me."

"If you're sure," I say getting under the covers with her.

As soon as I'm under, Bella snuggles up beside me and rests her head in the crock of my neck. I smile at how comfortable she is with me after everything she went through tonight. "Thank you for saving me Edward," Bella whispers.

"Of course love. I'm just glad I got there in time, I wish I could have prevented it from happening at all," I say sadly, pulling her closer to me, reassuring myself that she's actually there.

"Don't think that way. A lot worse could have happened if you didn't show up when you did."

"You should get some sleep, it's been a long night," I say not acknowledging what she said.

"You'll stay, right," she asks grabbing my shirt in her fist as if trying to prevent me from leaving.

"Where else would I go?" I say kissing her one last time. After that we both fall to sleep almost instantly.

**A/N: Sorry, I was hoping to get this chapter out last week but I had a lot of stuff come up. I officially got sworn into the Navy on Wednesday so I'm pretty excited about that. It's taken me almost 6 months from the time I decided to join to actually make it in. I leave for boot camp in May, which can't come soon enough. Anyways, this is a longer chapter than normal but I didn't feel like splitting up the end of the chapter. I could have left a cliffhanger, but I didn't think you would appreciate that. Hope you enjoy. Please comment and let me know what you think!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Saturday morning dawns and I find myself inhaling the most amazing smell. The nightmare I had last night haunting my thoughts. How could someone ever force themselves on to someone who was obviously unwilling? The thought alone made me shiver unconsciously, causing the warmth wrapped around me to stir. I freeze at the movement, finally taking into account my current position.

I open my eyes and see Bella snuggled into my side. I smile at her sleeping form before horror clouds my thoughts. It actually happened; it wasn't a dream, it was real. I reflexively pull her closer to me, burying my face in her hair and inhaling more of her floral scent.

A knock at the door snaps me back to the realities of the world. "I have breakfast," the person on the other side of the door calls.

I groan to myself as I start to extract myself from Bella, not wanting to move. Before I can go too far, she grabs my shirt in her hands and pulls me back to her side, "Don't go," she mumbles sleepily.

I kiss her head in comfort, "I'm just going to grab the food to get rid of them. Knowing our friends they won't leave us alone until we open the door. I'll be right back."

She relaxes her grip on my shirt and I quickly run to the door. I open the door to revel a somber looking pixie, "I didn't think she would really want to see everyone this morning so I wanted to bring this up to you before everyone got up and starts pestering her. I'll try to keep them at bay as long as I can, but I can't promise much. Rose and Jake are especially worried."

"I know. Thank you for bringing us breakfast. I should get back."

"Of course," she agrees, handing me the tray of food. "We're here whenever she's ready."

I nod my head in acknowledgment, "Thank you."

I grab the tray and shut the door with my foot setting the food on the dresser so I can lock the door again. I pick up the tray and walk over to the bed to find Bella propped up against the headboard watching my every move. I smile sheepishly at her, "Alice brought us breakfast to give you more time before everyone starts hovering."

She continues to look at me, but doesn't offer a response. I set the tray carefully on the bed, careful not to spill the glasses of orange juice. I pick up a plate and fork and offer it to her. She takes the plate and places it on her lap, staring vacantly at the food as if wondering what she's suppose to do with it.

I tentatively take my own plate and slowly start to eat, hoping she'll do the same. After several minutes of inactivity I say, "You should eat something Bella. I don't know how much you had to drink last night, but you need some sort of substance."

She flinches at the mention of last night but doesn't comment on how much she drank. She looks curiously at the plate like she's expecting it to give her the answers she's searching for. "I'm not hungry," she says softly after a short while.

"Just eat a couple bites and have some juice. You need the electrolytes," I try coaxing her.

Evidently my lame attempt at logic does the trick, whether it was because she believed what I was saying or to shut me up I don't know. Either way, she takes a few small bites, pushing the remaining food around her plate. I wasn't particularly hungry either but I knew I should at least eat a little something, plus I couldn't be a hypocrite.

After both of us eating meager portions of our breakfast, I take the plates returning them to the tray before placing it outside the door like one would do at a hotel. I walk back over to the bed and mimic Bella's position.

We sit silently for several minutes before I finally break the silence. "Are you going to report it?"

I notice her head shift in my direction from my periphery and I follow her lead and turn to face her. "I don't know," she says softly, fidgeting with her fingers.

I grab her hands to stop the movement. "I don't want to force anything Bella, but I think that you should. He almost rapped you; he needs to be held responsible. What he did to you was far worse than what Mike ever did. Get a restraining order at least. I can't stand to see him come near you again," I say brushing the hair out her face.

"That wouldn't stop him Edward," she says sadly. "And he obviously goes to school with us too, I'm bound to see him around."

"You forget, we graduate tomorrow. So after the ceremony you shouldn't run into him again, and that's if he's even graduating with us, which I highly doubt he would be."

"I just want to forget; I don't want to go through the story with the police," Bella whispers hugging her legs close to her body.

"I can understand that Bella, but what if he tries it again with another girl. This way there is something on his record to go against him. You could be saving other girls from a fate worse than yours."

"It's my decision Edward."

"I know, I'm sorry. I said I wouldn't push you and that's exactly what I'm doing."

It's silent for several minutes before I ask, "Would you like to take a bath and get cleaned up?"

"Sure," she says starting to unfold herself.

"I'll fill up the tub, you just wait here until it's ready. Okay?"

"Sure."

I make my way into my bathroom and run the hot water into the Jacuzzi pouring some bubble bath into the mix. I never understood why Alice insisted that I keep bubble bath in my house, but now I couldn't be happier that I had it on hand. While the tub is filling, I grab the various candles that Alice also had spread throughout my bathroom and light them to create a warm and comforting setting for Bella. I run out to my room, grab my iPod, and turn on a soothing classical music compilation of Liszt, Beethoven, Debussy, Chopin, and Yiruma on the iHome that I leave in my bathroom for when I'm getting ready.

Once the tub is filled, I call for Bella to come in. "The bath is all set for you. There's clean towels there," I say pointing to the heated towel rack, "and there's an extra bathrobe hanging on the back of the door if you would like to use it. I'll grab some clean clothes from your room while you're relaxing and I'll have them for you in the bedroom when you're done. Is there anything else I can get you? Did you want a book or a cup of tea while you're soaking?"

"No I'll be alright. But thank you for everything Edward; I really appreciate all you've done for me. Um," she says nervously, playing with the sleeve on my dress shirt she's still wearing, "could I maybe just wear some of your clothes? I want to wear something that won't remind me of anything else: Mike, James… I just need something neutral, would that be okay?"

"Of course. I'll find some sweats and a t-shirt for you to where."

"Thank you. Will you still be here when I'm done?"

"If you want me to be."

"I would. I don't really want to be alone but I don't want to be around everyone else yet."

"I'll be here then. And if you need anything when you're in here just holler and I'll help you," I offer.

Bella smiles slightly, "Thank you."

I smile in response and retreat back to my room. I contemplate going to another bathroom to shower but quickly throw that idea to the side incase Bella needs me. Instead, I make the bed and pick up the few things thrown about my room. I then gather some clothes and undergarments for Bella to wear, with the help of Alice for her personal effects. Settling back on the bed when I'm done, I flip on the TV and find an old movie to watch.

Half an hour later, I hear a thump from the bathroom and I rush to the door and knock fretfully. "Bella are you alright? I thought that I heard something fall and I wanted to make sure that you were okay."

I hear a small whimper followed by a weak, "I'm okay. I just fell when I was getting out of the tub and twisted my ankle."

"Can you walk? Do you need help?"

"Yes I can walk. I'll be out in couple minutes."

"Okay," I say hesitantly, worried that she may need help and is just to embarrassed to ask.

My fears are confirmed minutes later when Bella walks out of the bathroom in a white bathrobe, or limps is more like it. I quickly rush to her side, "Are you sure you can walk?"

She rolls her eyes at me, "Of course. I've had my fair share of sprains and broken limbs to know the difference. I'll be fine in ten minutes if I don't put my weight on it for a long period of time."

"If you're sure," I say walking her over to the bed regardless. I point to the clean clothes, "Here are some clothes for you. Alice got you some undergarments from your room. You get dressed and relax; I'm going to hop in the shower and get cleaned up as well."

"Okay, thank you."

I nod and make my way to the bathroom. Upon entering the bathroom, I blow out the remaining lit candles and wipe up the rest of the puddle Bella missed from when she fell out of the tub. I then shower and brush my teeth. Noticing I forgot to grab clothes for myself, I enter the room to get some fresh clothes with a towel wrapped around my waist. An intake of breath causes me to look at the bed and see Bella curled up in my sweatpants and t-shirt watching me.

I shift uncomfortably, "I forgot my clothes. Be right back," I say retreating back into the bathroom once I retrieved some sweats and a shirt for myself.

Walking back to the bedroom, I notice Bella in the same fetal position as before. I slowly walk over to her side and wipe the hair out her eyes. It is then that I notice the tear streaks on her face. "Oh Bella," I murmur, scooting her over a lit bit so I can lie beside her. "What is it love?"

She sniffles, burrowing herself into my arms. "Memories. When I close my eyes I see it happening all over again. I can't get away from it."

"It's alright; I'm here now. I won't let anything happen to you."

Bella doesn't respond, she just takes a deep breath and tightens her grip on me. A few minutes later she falls asleep in my arms as I'm stroking her hair. The TV is still on in the background, but I can't view it from my vantage point. I would turn it off but I can't bring myself to pull away from the sleeping angel in my arms. I kiss her head and settle in next to her, falling into a light sleep.

Knocking at the door wakes me from my slumber. I open my eyes and notice that Bella is still asleep nestled into me. "Bella can I come in?" Rosalie asks quietly from the other side of the door. I want to respond but I don't want to wake Bella up either.

I slowly extract myself from Bella and open the door. "Hey Rose, Bella is asleep right now," I say wiping the sleep out of my own eyes.

"Oh," she says fiddling with her hands. "How is she," she whispers.

I run my hand trough my hair, "She's doing okay. We haven't really talked about it much. I tried to get her to report it, but so far I don't think she is going to."

A couple tears fall from her eyes, "I wish I would have been there. I'm her best friend and I barely saw her the whole night. If only I would have spent more time with her. If I wasn't hanging out with you most of the night I would have been with her most likely."

"Rose stop that. You can't think like that. If anyone is at fault at all it would be me because it happened at a party of mine and in our house nonetheless. She is supposed to feel safe in her own home and instead she was attacked and in her bedroom too of all places. I feel like I failed her," I confess.

"Oh Edward," she cries hugging me tightly, burying her head in my shoulder. "You can't blame yourself. You're right, no one is to blame except the _pig_ that did this."

"I know. You were with Royce after I left, he didn't touch you did he?" I ask worriedly, pulling back from her slightly to look in her eyes.

"No. He kind of started trying a little bit, but I made it pretty clear that I wouldn't put up with his shit. And then Emmett came down yelling for everyone to get out so he didn't get another chance. When Royce saw James in Emmett's clutch he bolted right away. After he threw James out he went and talked with Alice and Jasper and then Jazz ran up the stairs. I went over to find out what was happening and as soon as Emmett saw me he immediately pulled me into a hug and started babbling stuff about 'it being okay' and 'you're alright.' I thought he was crazy until he told me about Bella and James and your fears about Royce. Thanks by the way, for looking out for me even when you were dealing with Bella."

"There's no need to thank me. I didn't want you to suffer a similar fate to Bella. I knew that Royce and James were friends so I didn't know if he would try anything on you. I couldn't take that chance."

"Well thanks again anyway. When Bella wakes up, can you see if she's up to seeing anyone? It's driving me insane not being able to help her right now."

"I'll ask her. We'll have to get food sometime anyway, so maybe we'll make an appearance for lunch."

"Um, Edward?" she say looking at me quizzically. "It's already two in the afternoon. Lunch is over."

"Oh, I didn't realize it was that late. We both showered and then fell back asleep."

"Well I'll let Alice know that you'll probably want to be eating soon. I'm sure she'll fix you guys something."

"Thanks. I'll talk to Bella, if you don't see us in an hour send the food up."

"Okay, I'll see you later then."

"Okay," I agree.

I shut the door and make my way back over to Bella, turning the TV off in the process. When I reach the bed I notice that Bella is wide-awake, watching me once again.

"Hey, did you sleep okay?" I ask.

"Yeah, I woke up when I heard voices."

"Oh, sorry. I tried to be quite so we wouldn't wake you. Rosalie just came up to see you; she wanted to make sure you were doing okay. I told her that you were sleeping so she couldn't talk to you. Are you up to seeing anyone else right now?" I ask running my hand up and down her arm soothingly.

"Not right now. But you shouldn't lock yourself in here with me Edward. You should be with Rose right now, making sure she's okay not me. If it makes you uncomfortable, I can go to the other room or even my room if someone else is occupying the guest room."

I look at her confused, "Why should I be with Rosalie? She's fine, and if not she has Jake and even Emmett and the others. I don't want to be anywhere else than where I am right now, and you're not going anywhere either. I told Rose that if we weren't down in an hour to eat that they should send it up; so we're all set to make camp here for as long as you want."

"I don't want Rose to be mad at you for spending more time with me than with her. I don't mean to be needy."

"Don't be ridiculous Bella. You are by no means needy. And if Rose can't understand why I would be spending time with you right now, then she has no right being me friend. Besides, we were friends first and I know you far better than Rosalie."

"Friend?" she asks with a cute little crease between her brows. "Don't you mean girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend? No, I don't have a girlfriend, especially not Rosalie. I thought we talked about this the other day, I don't like Rosalie like that."

"But I saw you two together last night… You walked upstairs together holding hands and came back down all smiley and Rose was readjusting her clothing. I don't understand- Oh!" she exclaims mid sentence. "Never mind. I got it now. Forget I said anything."

Now it's my turn to be confused. "I spilt my drink on her by accident so I was leading her up to my room to clean it off," I start to explain before I'm interrupted.

"No Edward, you don't need to explain anything to me. What you and Rose do is between the two of you," she rushes to say.

"Okay…" I say just as confused as before. "I was just going to say that I helped her clean up her dress as much as I could. Luckily it was black so you couldn't see it. On the way back downstairs Rose was fidgeting because she thought that people would be able to see the spot on her dress, which I assured her that no one could. She then told me that I could call her Rose. Now that I am thinking about it again, it was really weird because when we got to the bottom of the stairs there were a lot of people looking at us curiously. I asked Rose and she didn't seem to care or notice too much. I still don't know why everyone was looking at us so strangely.

"We went to go get drinks then and Rose saved my from a girl that was trying to get my attention all night. When we were sitting on the couch talking is when I noticed you walk up the stairs. Later Alice asked where you were and I never remembered you coming back down so I went up to check on you. And well… you know the rest," I trail off.

"Oh," she blushes slightly. "I think that I could shed some light on all the stares you were receiving. I saw you guys walking up the stairs holding hands and I just assumed that you guys were going up to your room to do… _other_ things."

"Other things?" I ask perplexed.

"Yeah, _other_ things. Like sex for example," she says nonchalantly.

Good thing I wasn't drinking anything when she said that, otherwise she would have been drenched in liquid. "You thought we were having _sex_?" I ask incredulously.

"Um, yeah?" she blushes. "When you guys came back down stairs it looked like Rose was readjusting her clothes as if making sure everything was back in place after she had taken it off. Then you both were all smiley as if you both had just gotten off. My only guess is that everyone else saw the same signs that I did and assumed the same thing. And I would also bet that Rose knew exactly what everyone else was thinking and was playing that up so that everyone thought you were together."

"Why would she do that? And why wouldn't she tell me when I asked her?" I ask baffled.

"That's just the way Rose is. She's a very uh, _sexual_, person. She likes to play that up, and if it keeps women off her prize then all the better. I'm sure she saw all the looks you were getting all night long and wanted to send a message to all the girls to keep their hands off."

"What? I only had one girl besides Rosalie approach me all night. I don't know where you are getting all these ideas from, but you're wrong," I say confidently.

She snorts a little, "I forget how naive you are Edward. Pretty much every girl in the room was keeping tabs on you throughout the night. Were you ever on your own during the night?"

"Um, at the beginning when I was letting everyone in. After that Lauren attached herself to me and then Rose saved me from her," I shrug. "No one else came up to me though."

"That's because they saw you with someone else. Trust me, I know."

"I don't feel like talking about this anymore," I say exasperated. "I believe that we are at an impasse. Let's just agree to disagree."

"Fine," she relents, "but I'm right."

"So did you want to go down to get something to eat or do you just want to stay up here for a while yet?"

"Just stay up here. Maybe we can go down for dinner later. I'm too embarrassed to see anyone else right now."

"I can understand not wanting to see anyone else, but why are you embarrassed?"

"Because you and Emmett both saw at my weakest and most vulnerable moment. Don't ask why it's okay for me to be around you and no one else, but I fell safe with you for some reason. I don't want the others to be staring at me and wondering if I'm going to freak out at any moment. I just… need some time."

"Oh Bella," I say hugging her close to me, burying my head in the crook of her neck. "No one will think any of those things. Everyone is just worried about you and they want to make sure that you're okay. And trust me when I say that you have nothing to be embarrassed about."

I feel a few tears dampen my shirt from where Bella's head is burrowed into me. "Thank you for staying with me Edward. I can't express enough how much it means to me that you're here."

"I'll be here as long as you want me," I murmur.

After several minutes of quite sniffles I ask, "Do you want to watch or movie or something to get your mind off of things?"

"Sure," she replies softly.

I reach for the remote on the bedside table and flip on the tube. I find a happy-go-lucky film and after five minutes or so Bella finally readjusts from here position of being snuggled into my chest. She's still lying on top of me, but now her back is resting on my chest while I'm sitting up slightly against the headboard with my arms wrapped around her torso keeping her safe.

"I have some lunch for you guys," Jasper yells a half hour later while knocking on the door.

"It should be open," I call from my position on the bed. "I don't think I locked it."

My suspicion is confirmed when Jasper walks in holding another tray of food for us. He seems momentarily shocked by our sitting arrangement but quickly composes himself. "Alice made you sandwiches and brownies," he says placing the tray at the end of the bed by our feet. "There's some milk and water for you, did you want anything else?"

Bella shakes her head. "No thank you," I respond.

"Okay, enjoy your meal." He pauses briefly before walking to the side of the bed. He grabs Bella's hand, "I just wanted to let you know that we all love you Bella and we're here whenever you need us." He releases her hand and leans in to kiss her head.

"Thank you Jasper. Tell everyone that we'll be down a little later. I still need some time."

"Of course," he replies, retreating to the door. "Oh and Edward," he calls over his shoulder, "Alice spoke to your parents and they aren't coming until tomorrow now. They'll stay with us instead of here with you."

"Oh! That's right, I completely forgot about them. Thanks Jazz."

"No problem, see you guys later," he says shutting the door behind him.

Bella turns to look at me after the door is shut, "Your parents are coming?"

"Yeah, I forgot to tell you. They were planning on coming today and spending the night to be here tomorrow for graduation. I was just going to have them stay in the guest room, but I guess with everyone here it only makes sense that they stay with Alice and Jasper instead."

"Oh," she says softly.

"Are you going to go to graduation tomorrow?" I ask tentatively, not knowing how she will fell about being around so many people so soon after the… _incident_.

"I don't know. I forgot about it to be honest."

"Had you talked to your parents about it? Were they planning on coming up?"

"Oh shit," she exclaims shooting into a sitting position in front of me. "They _are_ coming tomorrow. Everything completely slipped my mind this past week and then after last night… What am I going to do? I can't face them like this and I definitely don't know if I'll be able to walk tomorrow."

"It's okay Bella. Calm down, we'll figure something out. You don't have to walk if you don't want to. I mean you're still planning on going to medical school, that graduation will be more important than this one. You can just call you parents and tell them something came up and that they don't have to come."

"No, I can't do that. My mom wouldn't forgive me if I didn't walk across the stage tomorrow. Not many people from our small town actually go to college, yet alone graduate. She brags to all our family and friends whenever she can. I'll just have to suck it up for the day I suppose," she says dejectedly, slumping back into chest.

"Well with both of our parents coming, they can keep each other entertained and take off some of the pressure from us. I'll stay by your side the entire day if it would make you more comfortable. I would do anything for you," I tell her.

"Yes please," she says. "That would help divert my mom's attention to something other than me. I must warn you though, my mother is like Alice in a sense. She is a very happy and bubbly person, not as much as Alice but it's still noticeable."

"Alright," I chuckle, "I'll keep that in mind."

We then pick up our plates and eat our lunch in comfortable silence wile watching the rest of the movie. After the movie is over I ask, "Are you ready to see everyone else now?"

"Not really, but I may as well get it over with. Let's go," she says, grabbing my hand and leading me towards the door.

**A/N: Sorry it took so long to update. I've been busy decorating Christmas trees and making Christmas cookies. We made a least six different types, ranging from a few dozen of some to forty dozen in others and we still have more to make. Thank you so much for all of the reviews I received in the past couple of weeks. It is because of your reviews that you are getting this update right now. I was planning on updating my other story before I wrote another chapter for this one, but your awesome reviews persuaded me to write this one instead. So if you want another update soon, you know what to do. Review!**

**Thanks again. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Years. Happy Holidays!**

**Check out my new story **_**Cosmetic Life**_** while your waiting for the next update. Hope you enjoy.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

After we cross the threshold, Bella's steps falter and she becomes immobile. I make my way in front of her and use my free hand to brush a few locks of hair out of her face. "Are you okay?" I ask worriedly.

"Hm," she mumbles, finally taking in my presence before her. "I'm scared," she whispers.

"It'll be okay. It's just our friends. Just think of it as a little test run for tomorrow," I say softly.

"You're right," she says, squeezing my hand.

I kiss her forehead and lead the way downstairs with Bella's hand still engulfed in my own. As we come downstairs I notice that all remnants from the party the night before are gone, replaced with the knick-knacks that were stored away during the event. I hear a little noise coming from the living so I head in that direction. At our entrance into the room, the soft chatter stops and all eyes turn to us.

"Bella," Rosalie says, jumping out of her spot next to Emmett and rushing towards Bella. She throws her arms around her friend's small frame and starts crying into their embrace.

"Are you okay? What happened? Do you need anything? Are you okay?" she fires off rapidly.

Still holding on to my hand, Bella hugs Rose with her other arm, crying silently with her. "I'm fine Rose. Edward and Emmett got there just in time. I don't really want to talk about it though. I see you've all been busy," she says pulling back and addressing everyone. "Thank you for cleaning everything up, I really appreciate it. I don't think I would have been able to do it by myself before tomorrow, so thanks."

"It was nothing," Alice replies from Jasper's lap on the overstuffed chair. "It was my idea for the party, therefore my responsibility to clean up the mess from it. I'm sorry," she whispers with tears falling form her eyes. "If I didn't insist on having the party, nothing would have happened to you. I'm so sorry Bella. Will you ever be able to forgive me?"

Bella releases my hand and walks over to Alice pulling her into a hug. "It wasn't your fault Alice. It wasn't anyone's fault except for James. I'm just glad that it happened here where there were people to save me. If it had happened at Eclipse… I don't even want to think of how far things would have gotten."

"She's right Alice," Jacob adds. "I've been trying to tell you that all last night and this morning. James has been bothering Bella for over a year now. He's a sick fuck who doesn't know what "no" means."

"Ugh, if you would have just gotten a real job instead of working at Eclipse, this whole thing could have been avoided," Rosalie grumbles.

Bella glares at Rosalie and returns to my side. "I thought we were done with this Rosalie. It paid good money and helped me pay for school, so sue me. If we're going to keep talking about this I'm just going to go back upstairs," she says motioning to the stairs.

"Alright, we'll stop," Rosalie panics, looking like she'll attack Bella if she tries to leave.

Emmett clears his throat from his spot on the sofa. "Before we close the subject I just want to say I'm sorry Belly," he says softly fidgeting with his hands. _That's odd, Emmett never fidgets_. "I'm the one that invited him and Royce to the party when I stopped by to tell Edward about it. And I'm sorry I didn't get to you sooner. If I didn't stop to go to the bathroom I would have been there right away with Edward. I said I would protect you last night and I didn't. It's all my fault."

"Oh Emmett," Bella breaths. "It's not you're fault anymore than it is anyone else's. I don't blame any of you. And it's because of you that you and Edward were able to break into the room. So thank you. It was almost too late," she says quietly.

I grab her arm and pull her to my chest, rubbing her back in soothing circles. "You're safe now. I won't let him come near you again," I whisper in her ear.

She sniffles into my shirt before pulling away and wiping her eyes. "Thank you," she murmurs. Turning back to everyone else she clears her throat, "Okay, who is all going to be here tomorrow after graduation? I need to know how much food I need to make."

Everyone stares at us in varying degrees of confusion and shock before Alice answers, "I think that we were just going to have something at our place. We didn't know if you would be up to… _entertaining_ anyone."

"Well my parents are coming up tomorrow, so the more the merrier. And I know that your dad is coming up with my parents Jake so he'll be here. Rose you said that your parents were coming too, right?"

"Uh, yeah," she replies, eyeing Bella curiously. "Are you sure it won't be too many people here though Bella? I'm sure that Edward doesn't want to be entertaining a bunch of people he doesn't know.

"No it's fine. I don't mind having everyone over. And you three have been friends forever; I'm not going to separate you all on your graduation. You can tell mom and dad to come here too Alice, I told Bella that I would be here tomorrow."

"Okay, it's settled then. Well I have to go make a list of things for tomorrow, so if you'll excuse me," Bella says and goes to the kitchen.

I settle down in a spot next to Jacob as everyone glances between Bella's retreating form and me. "What," I ask confused.

"Should I go…" Rose trails off pointing to the kitchen.

"Would you normally help her with cooking stuff Rose?" I ask.

"Well, no. But is she okay?"

"No, she's not okay Rosalie. She was almost rapped last night. She's mostly concerned about how everyone is going to treat her now. She doesn't want anyone treating her differently or pitying her. Just act like you normally would," I say.

I want to tell them more, like how she feels embarrassed, but I know Bella wouldn't want them to know. That would just make her even more embarrassed. While I'm acting calm on the outside, I too am struggling with leaping off the sofa and going to her. I hope she is actually making a list for tomorrow and not hiding from everyone.

"I want to thank you man," Jacob says seriously. "I should have been watching out for Bella. I didn't even see James last night. So thanks for saving my girl."

I feel a slight tug in my gut when he calls Bella _his_ girl. _That's an odd reaction_, I think to myself.

"You don't have to thank me Jake. I'd never forgive myself if I didn't make it there in time. I should have known something was off between the two of them when he was over for our project. But then Emmett came over and I totally forgot about the confrontation. Bella never told me who it was either, so I didn't think anything of it. I won't let it happen again though, I can guarantee you that."

"What did you tell mom and dad Alice?" I ask.

"Um, I told them that one of our friends had an emergency and that they should come tomorrow instead of today."

"So you didn't tell them what happened to Bella?" I clarify.

"No, I wouldn't do that to Bella. I didn't think that she would want anyone else to know. And speaking of mom and dad, did you even tell them about Bella? Cause they asked me if Maria was taking good care of you?"

I cringe when I reply, "No, I haven't told them about Bella. You know that I don't like using the phone. Don't tell them that she works for me though."

"Why not," she asks confused.

"I don't know. It just feel like it's just cheapening our friendship or something," I try to explain, not knowing how to phrase it exactly.

Alice and Emmett smirk at me, making me feel uncomfortable. _What's that about?_

We talk for a few more minutes about the party and graduation before I politely excuse myself to go check on Bella. When I walk into the kitchen, I relax instantly and feel myself breathe properly for the first time in the last ten minutes. I spot Bella sitting on a stool with a notepad in front of her. I walk over and take the seat next to her, startling her slightly.

"I was wondering how long it would take before someone came to check on me," Bella says not even looking in my direction.

"I'm sorry. I was getting anxious without having you near me. I could leave if you want me to," I offer halfheartedly.

"Oh," she squeaks, seeming mildly surprised. Glancing at me finally she says, "I wasn't expecting it to be you. I thought it would have been Rose or Alice, or even Jake. But not you."

I frown at her, "Why wouldn't you think it would be me?"

She gives me a small smile. "I've spent all morning with you, that's why. I'm just waiting for the Spanish inquisition to start."

I chuckle, "Well don't hold your breath. I told them to back off. Now, do we need to go shopping for tomorrow?" I ask, changing the subject.

Her smile grows, "Yes, we do," she says standing up with her list. "And thank you," she says appreciatively.

"Anytime love," I say kissing her cheek. "I'm going to let everyone know where we're going, be right back."

I retreat to the living room and inform everyone where we're going. The girls offer to come with but I refuse them, claiming it will go faster with just us two, when really I just want more time alone with Bella. I don't know where this sudden urge has come from to have Bella to myself, but everyone else is getting in the way of it. It's silly too because she lives with me so I'm alone with her the majority of the time anyway.

I grab my keys and wallet from the table by the door and a patiently waiting Bella. We go into the garage and I escort Bella to the passenger side where I open the door for her, earning a small giggle from her. I smile and make a mental note to make her laugh more often. Once we reach the store, I rush to open her door which she has half open already. I grumble a complaint receiving another chuckle. As we approach the entrance and other shoppers, I sense Bella starting to tense up beside me.

"Hey," I say, getting her attention. I grab her hand and give it a small squeeze. "You'll be fine. I'll be right here for you the whole time."

"I feel like everyone knows, like they're all looking at me," she says shifting uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact.

With my free hand, I lift her chin causing her to look at me. "No one is looking at you. And if they are it's because they can't help looking at the beautiful woman wishing they were in my place at your side."

She snorts, "Yeah right. More like what is he doing slumming it with someone like her."

"That's not true. Trust me. When have I ever said something that I don't mean?" I challenge.

"Ah," she opens and shuts her mouth a couple times before pursing her lips.

"Exactly," I beam. "Now come on love," I say dragging her through the sliding doors. "We have some shopping to do."

"That's different though," she mumbles under breath, which I choose to ignore.

We quickly make our way through the store. Bella stays as close to me as possible throughout the trip, only venturing a couple feet away from me, not that I mind. In fact, I prefer when she's near me, that way I know that she's safe away from creeps like James. I hope that he's not at graduation tomorrow. I don't know how Bella would handle seeing him.

When we return home we start putting everything away when everyone meanders into the kitchen. "What do you guys want for dinner," Bella asks as soon she sees everyone enter.

"You don't have to make us anything Bella. We were just wondering what you want us to do. Do you want us to leave so you can be alone or do you want us stay? It's totally up to; we'll do whatever you want so don't worry about hurting our feelings or anything if you want to kick us out," Alice says, speaking for everyone else.

Bella smiles, "I don't mind you guys staying. I was just going to make something for dinner and then I thought that we could watch a movie. How does that sound?"

"Good," everyone chimes in.

"I say we order pizza or Chinese," Emmett speaks out. "You'll be busy all day tomorrow cooking; take the night off."

"I don't-" Bella starts before I cut her off.

"He's right Bella. No cooking tonight, let's just relax and enjoy the night before all the craziness of tomorrow."

"Fine," she huffs. "But just for future reference, I _enjoy_ cooking. It's relaxing for _me_."

We all laugh and head into the living room. I order Chinese for everyone as the girls debate what movie to watch. They eventually decide on _Salt_. Thank God I don't own any chick flicks, although I'm sure that part of my movie collection will grow with Bella living with me. Alice will like that. We all assume our usual seating arrangements: Alice and Jasper on the chair, Rose and Emmett on the loveseat, and Jacob, Bella and I on the couch. Dinner arrives a short while later and we all dig in.

After we're done eating, I notice Bella shifting around in her seat next to me. I lean into her and ask, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just trying to find a comfortable position. I might just sit on the floor," she whispers back.

"You can lean on me if you want," I offer, putting my arm around her and pulling her to me. "I'm sure I'm more comfortable than the floor."

She chuckles and agrees, snuggling into my side. Before long, the movie is over and we say our goodbyes promising to see everyone in the morning. Once they're all gone, Bella heads to the kitchen with me following behind her like a lost puppy. She starts pulling out various items when I ask, "You can't possibly still be hungry."

"No," she laughs. "I'm just going to prep some stuff tonight so I don't have to do it all tomorrow. Although, if I do it tomorrow, it will take more time away from entertaining my parents," she says tapping a finger on her chin in contemplation.

I smile and shack my head. "Tell me what to do chef. I'm at your service."

She instructs me to cut up some vegetables while she whips up some batches of cookies. I stealthily sneak some cookie dough when she's not looking, moaning quietly when I place it in my mouth. Bella's head snaps in my direction furrowing her eyebrows. "What did you say?" she asks.

"I didn't say anything," I say innocently.

"Huh," she says not convinced. "I could have sworn I heard you mumble something."

"Nope. I think you're hearing things."

She walks back over to the mixer and looks in the bowl as she's adding the chocolate chips. "Edward!" she exclaims, slapping my arm. "You're not supposed to eat the dough. I won't have any cookies for tomorrow!"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just cutting the vegetables like you told me to," I emphasize by over exaggerating my knife movements.

"Oh really?" she asks raising an eyebrow, not impressed. "Because the finger marks in the dough beg to differ."

"Crap," I mutter, knowing I'm caught. "Well you see," I start to explain, "I needed to taste test the dough to make sure it was good. We can't be serving rubbish to our guests tomorrow."

"So you're saying my cooking is bad now? Well if that's the case, you can cook everything yourself," she smirks at me.

"What?" I panic. "That is not what I'm saying at all. I _love_ your cooking and your baking even more. Don't tell my mother… but you're a way better cook than her. Please," I pout, "I promise to be good."

Her eyes slightly glaze over and she nods her head dumbly. She turns around and continues baking as if nothing has happened. _That's odd, she usually has a come back of some sort_.

"And besides, if I didn't like your cooking, why would I be asking for cooking lessons from you?"

"Because anything is a step up from your cooking?" she quips back.

I laugh, "Well now you're just degrading your own cooking. Your cooking is more than a step up from mine."

"Thanks," she smiles. "Now back to work," she mock scolds.

After we're all done prepping for tomorrow, we decide to call it a night and head to bed. At the top of the stairs Bella hesitates by her room, but before she can make a decision I grab her hand, "And where do you think you're going?" I ask.

"I," she motions to her door, "was going to go to my room," she says more as a question.

"Don't be ridiculous. You're door isn't fixed," I say by means of explanation for dragging to her to my room.

"But-" she starts before I cut her off.

"And you'd be doing me a favor by staying with me. You're door doesn't have a lock and the guest room is further away so I wouldn't hear if you needed me." The excuses just keep pouring out of my mouth before I can stop them. _Why do I keep lying to her? Well I guess it's _partially _true, but really I just like having her in my bed. Stop it Edward; she's you're employee_. "Unless this makes you too uncomfortable," I amend quickly.

A light blush covers her cheeks, "No, it's fine. I don't want to be alone just yet and I couldn't handle not having a lock or being in a new room. So thanks."

"It's no problem," I assure her. "I'm just going to use the bathroom. If you want to find something to sleep in you can look in my dresser. You can use anything you want."

I make quick work in the bathroom, anxious to get out to Bella. When I come back out, she has a small pile of clothes in her arms that she takes into the bathroom with her. I lock the door, turn off the lights, and get in bed, turning on the lamp on the nightstand. Bella comes out a couple minutes later wearing a pair of my boxers and an old high school t-shirt.

"You look cute. My clothes have never looked so good," I compliment, immediately cursing my lack of filter. Although my comments are one hundred percent true, I don't think that Bella appreciates being accosted by her employer while recovering from her almost-rape.

She blushes, "Uh, thanks." She drops her other clothes by the hamper and slowly makes her way over to the bed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I-" I start rambling when Bella interrupts.

"It's fine Edward, really. If I'm ever uncomfortable in a particular situation or by something you say I'll tell you. So, if you don't hear a complaint from me, then you can assume I'm fine. Okay?"

"Okay," I agree. "I just don't want to overstep any boundaries. I tend to do that occasionally, like with Rosalie."

"Let's not talk about Rose," she says while pulling the blankets up to her neck, turning on her side to look at me. "So, when is everyone coming over tomorrow?"

"After the ceremony I believe," I say mimicking her actions. "Are your parents stopping by before or going directly there?"

"They're going straight there. I'll meet up with them afterwards and give them directions to the house. Shit," she groans.

"What?" I ask.

"I never really explained my, uh, living situation with them. I mean they know Mike and I broke up but they still think that I work at the library on campus. I told them I was working there because I obviously couldn't tell them that I was working at the club. Shit," she groans again.

"Well if they ask, just say that I offered you a place to live after you broke up with Mike. You don't have to tell them that you're my housekeeper if you don't want to. My parents don't know about the situation either, so we can stick with that story if you want. And if our mothers are feeling especially snoopy, we'll just tell them that we met in class, which is totally feasible."

Bella smirks at me, "You've really thought this through, haven't you?"

I shrug, "Alice brought it to my attention earlier that I never told my parents about you. It's not that I deliberately didn't tell them, I just haven't spoken with them since Maria left. I hate using the phone so I never got the chance to tell them," I explain so she doesn't think that I'm embarrassed or ashamed by her.

"Yes, I know of this aversion to phones. I do recall almost having to walk home one day because you forgot about me and wouldn't answer your phone."

"Ugh," I groan. "I'm sorry. I just got caught up in my reading and lost track of time. I'm doing better though. I answer your texts during the week."

"I know. I'm just giving you a hard time. But we should probably get some shut eye; we have to get up bright and early so we can get ready."

"You're probably right," I say switching off the light and pulling Bella into my arms automatically. "Is this okay," I ask quietly.

"It's perfect," she replies, snuggling into my chest. "Goodnight night Edward."

"Goodnight love. See you in the morning," I mumble into her hair, giving her a chaste kiss.

What seems like minutes later, the alarm is blaring in my eardrum, demanding attention. "I got it," Bella mumbles sleepily while leaning over me to switch it off before snuggling back into my chest.

"I could get used to waking up like this," I yawn, tightening my grip on her so she knows I'm referring to her.

"Me too. I don't know how I'll be able to go back to my own bed after this," she says in response.

"Well we don't have to think about that just yet. Your door still has to get fixed and even then, you can sleep here for as long as need until you're comfortable again."

"Thank you," she murmurs. After several minutes of silence she says, "We should probably get up. Lots of stuff to do today."

"I guess so," I grumble, earning a giggle from Bella.

"You can shower first while I get breakfast ready. Sound good?"

"Yeah," I agree dragging myself towards the bathroom and shutting the door quietly behind me.

Still not fully awake, I stand under the hot stream of water for nearly twenty minutes before I finally resolve myself to get out. I dry off quickly and throw on some jeans and t-shirt so I don't get my dress clothes wrinkled before graduation. Walking into the kitchen I see a bowl of fresh fruit, a muffin, and a cup of coffee waiting for me. "Looks delicious, thank you," I compliment.

"You're welcome," Bella replies handing me a section of the morning paper.

I enjoy how comfortable our morning routine is. Bella makes breakfast and we eat at the island, splitting the newspaper, passing sections back and forth, commenting on stories, and informing each other of our plans for the day. I never thought I'd have this type of camaraderie before, but now that I have it, I'm afraid what will happen when Bella leaves.

As Bella sets down her paper and starts collecting her dishes I say, "I'll clean up. You can go shower and get ready. If you'd rather, you can use my bathroom if you'd be more comfortable," I offer.

"Thank you. I'd like that if it wouldn't be too bothersome. Just thinking about my bathroom brings up images of…_ him_."

"It's no problem. Did you need me to grab anything out of your room or bathroom for you to get ready?"

"Oh. I forgot about that. Maybe if you just come up with me while I grab some stuff I'll be okay. Is that okay?" she asks while biting her lip and fidgeting with her fingers.

"Of course," I say grabbing her hand and leading her up to her room. The closer we get to the room, the tighter Bella grips my hand.

I push open her door and feel Bella freeze beside me. I turn to look at her and see a vacant expression on her face. "Hey," I whisper, ghosting the backs of my fingers over her cheek. "Tell me what you need and I'll grab it so you don't have to come in."

Her hand tightens on my own as she shakes her head minutely taking in the room. She takes several tentative steps into the room and then leads the way into the bathroom. She empties out a small woven basket into the sink and quickly refills it with her shower supplies and various makeup items. I watch her closely for any more signs of distress but see none. Taking one last glance around the bathroom, she starts walking back into the bedroom when she comes to a sudden halt, dropping the basket and falling to her knees as a gut-wrenching sob breaks free from her lips.

I rush to her side, pulling her into my arms trying to soothe her. "Leave me alone!" Bella yells out, thrashing out against my chest. "Don't touch me!"

I immediately let go of her but she continues hitting any bit of me she can reach. "I'm sorry Bella," I say quickly, not knowing what to do. "I was just trying to help you. What can I do? Tell me what to do?" I plead.

"Don't touch me! Leave me alone," she sobs. "Help! Someone! Anyone! Help me! Please."

Realizing she must be having a flashback, I grab onto her hands to stop her from hitting me. "Bella," I yell, trying to break through to her. "Bella, it's me, Edward. You're safe. No one is hurting you. It's just you me."

"Let me go," she rasps out, struggling against my hold. "Edward!" she yells, "Help me!"

"I'm right here Bella. Look at me baby," I say trying to get her to look at my face, feeling tears of my own accumulating in my eyes. "You're safe," I tell her, trying to put my arms around her once again. She struggles a little more as I keep talking to her, but eventually she slumps against my chest and burrows into my arms as her crying ebbs away.

"Shh," I whisper, "I've got you. You're safe." I gently rock her back forth, placing random kisses upon her head every now and then. Deciding to get her out of this room, I slowly start rising with her still in my arms and carefully readjust her so I can carry her. I make my way to my bedroom and lay her on my bed.

"Don't leave me," Bella breathes softly.

"I won't be far. I'm going to run a bath for you; I'll be right back love. I promise."

I quickly run to the bathroom to start the water and then rush to Bella's bathroom to pick up the forgotten basket of items. I finish setting up the bathroom for Bella and then go to retrieve her. The frail girl I return to is nothing like the carefree woman from this morning. Though her eyes are open, they appear dull and lifeless and don't seem to be taking in anything from her surroundings. I pick her up once again and set her on the edge of the bathtub.

"Bella," I say softly, brushing the hair from her eyes. "There's a nice hot bath ready for you. Do you need anything before I leave?"

Slowly her eyes lock with mine, "Don't leave me. Stay."

"Are you sure?" I ask, shocked by her request.

"I don't want to be alone," she whispers, "I'm afraid."

"Okay," I concede.

After several long minutes of watching Bella stare into space, I realize that she's not really in the frame of mind to bathe herself. "Bella," I say to get her attention again. Once she looks at me I continue, "I'm going to help you get undressed so you can get in the tub. Is that okay?"

She continues to look at me with a blank expression, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. Placing my hands on her hips, I help her into a standing position so I can remove her clothing easier. Maintaining eye contact, I grab the waistband of her shorts and underwear and slowly drag them down her legs. I gently lift each leg to remove the garments before returning to a standing position. She doesn't offer any acknowledgment, just continues to watch my eyes with her own. I grasp her waist once again, fisting the t-shirt material in hand; bit-by-bit I raise the shirt until it's free from her body. Now completely bare, I carefully help her into the tub.

I never thought I'd be in this type of situation in my life. Well, not this _exact_ situation. Never having been with a woman before, this is not how imagined my first time would be. While undressing Bella, I tired to keep my composure but it was near impossible to ignore with every inch of new flesh I exposed. I kept eye contact with her unless it was absolutely necessary for me to look at what I was doing. I don't know how I'll be able to look at her again, and not picture her perfect features every time.

Not wanting to cross any more lines than I already have, I refrain from joining her in the tub. Instead, I begin wetting and washing her hair then lathering up a loofah and gently washing her body. During the process my shirt and jeans become drenched in water. After I'm done, I pull the plug and let the water drain as I wrap Bella up in her bathrobe and her hair in a towel. I then lead her back to the bedroom and set her on the bed, excusing myself to make a phone a call.

I step out of the room and immediately dial Alice's number, quickly informing her of the morning's breakdown, leaving out the part of me bathing Bella. Needing no further commentary, Alice hangs up with the promise of arriving in twenty minutes to help Bella get ready for graduation.

**A/N: Hey folks… sorry, sorry, sorry. I feel really bad that it's been so long since I've updated, but better late than never I guess. This was supposed to be posted around Valentine's Day but that didn't happen. Then it was my 21****st**** birthday so I was a little preoccupied. On top of that my grandma has been in and out of the hospital between falling down and breaking her nose to having brain surgery to remove a blood clot and tumor… so yeah it's been a busy couple weeks. I'll try to do better and get this completed before I leave for boot camp in May, but with the way things have been going I can't make any promises. I hope you enjoy. **

**Review please!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

After I hang up the phone, I return to my room and find Bella in the same position I left her in. I carefully make my way to her side and crouch down in front of her, taking her hands in mine. "Bella love, Alice is on her way over to help you get ready. Did you still want to go to today?" I ask gently.

Raising her head slowly she responds, "No, but today is more for my parents than it is for me. And besides, everyone will be coming here afterwards anyway, so it's not like I'd be able to get out of seeing anyone."

"I could make a couple phones and make everything go away if that's what you want. Don't worry about anyone else, think about yourself for once. Just say the word and I'll make the call," I offer.

"Don't tempt me. It will be good to see my parents again. Besides, I just have to make it through today and then tomorrow I can feel sorry for myself," she says giving me a weak smile. "Just promise you'll stay close today in case it get's to be to much?" she pleads looking at me with big watery eyes.

Releasing one of her hands, I gently wipe a fallen tear from her check. "Of course, I'll never be out of earshot."

"Thank you," she replies, looking somewhat relieved.

"Anything for you love," I say quietly. "Did you need anything before Alice arrives? I know she usually keeps you hostage for a while."

I'm rewarded with a small chuckle, "I don't think so. Just don't let her get too carried away, okay? I don't have the energy to put up a fight today."

"Duly noted," I smile, and kiss the back of her hand. I stand up and head over to the dresser to get some dry clothes. "Be right back," I say and head into the bathroom, leaving the door slightly ajar. I strip off my shirt and pants, drying the rest of the bathroom before hurricane Alice takes over.

"Edward," Bella calls, pushing the door open.

I turn to her clad, only in my black boxer briefs. "Is everything alright?" I ask frantically, wondering what could have possibly happened in the last five minutes since I came in to change.

"Um…" she mumbles looking at me with wide eyes. "I… uh… what?"

I walk over to her, holding one of her arms and caressing her cheek with my other, "What happened? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing happened. I was just wondering what was taking you so long."

"I was just cleaning up the bathroom from earlier. I didn't want Alice snooping around for details. I'm just about done though, and I'll be right out. Okay?" I say kissing her forehead.

Her arms wrap around my waist as she snuggles into my chest. "Thank you for everything you've done for me Edward. I don't know how I'll ever repay you."

"There's nothing to repay; trust me. I just want you safe and happy. That's all I want."

She places a soft kiss on my chest, looking up at me through her eyelashes, causing my breath to catch. "Bella," I murmur, looking in her eyes for some kind of answer to a question I haven't allowed myself to think. I slowly bring my head closer to her, when the doorbell rings, causing us to jump apart, like we've been caught with our hand in the cookie jar. "That's probably Alice," I say looking in her eyes.

"Yeah," she replies, making no move to leave.

I turn from her and quickly dress, gathering my wet clothes in the process. As I pass her, I place a chaste kiss on her cheek, "I'll see you soon, love."

I throw my clothes in the dirty clothes bin and hastily make my way downstairs. I open the door to an impatiently waiting Alice, "It's about time. And you wonder why I never use that thing. I only did it because I didn't want to scare Bella by just walking in the house," she says tapping her toe. Calming down some she asks gently, "How is she?"

"She's doing better. She's up in my bathroom waiting for you. I'll be down here if you need anything. And please don't get carried away Alice, she has no fight in her right now. Just keep everything simple; and whatever you do, don't take her into her room. We tried that this morning… and well now you're here. So please-" I start to say when she cuts me off by raising her hand.

"I know Edward. I promise to be good. Now shoo, and leave me to what I do best," she says, as she shoots up the stairs.

The next hour goes by quickly. I manage to clean up the kitchen and start some of the recipes that Bella and I prepared last night. Just as I'm putting a bowl in the fridge, someone clears their throat behind me. I finish my task and turn around, causing my mouth to drop open in response. Standing before me is Bella in a green summer dress and flats with her hair flowing in curls around her shoulders.

"You look beautiful," I finally manage to say, walking over towards her. Her makeup is very simple, accenting her natural beauty.

"Thanks," she blushes. "It's all Alice though."

"I doubt that. She was working with a perfect canvas to begin with. Speaking of, where is Alice?"

"Oh, she left already. She wanted to get back so she could go with Jasper and your parents. Now go get ready Mister and I'll finish up in here."

"Yes, ma'am," I salute, earning a laugh. I make my way upstairs and quickly throw on a pair of black slacks, a white button up, skinny black tie, and my dress shoes. I come downstairs twenty minutes later to a clean kitchen and a fidgeting Bella.

I smile as I approach her, "Ready, love?" I ask taking her hand in mine.

"As long as you're by my side, I'll be ready for anything," she smiles back.

I kiss her hand and lead her to the Volvo. The drive to the ceremony is silent except for the soft sounds of David Gray playing in the background. Bella's hand is firmly in my own, slowly increasing in pressure as we enter the parking lot. "I can turn around if you want me to," I say gently.

"No," she smiles sadly at me, "I'll be fine."

"Okay," I agree, squeezing her hand in support. "Let's get this over with so we can go home."

We exit the vehicle, make our way inside the building, and find our friends. Soon enough, we're lining up and walking across the stage as friends and family cheer on from the audience. Throughout the ceremony, I did my best to find Bella behind me and make sure that she was all right. She was hard to find with our names being so far apart in the alphabet, but luckily I had a clear view of her over my right shoulder. Whenever I turned to look, I always found her looking at me causing a small smile to light up her uneasy features.

A grueling two hours later, the ceremony came to close. "Finally," I mutter to myself, earning a chuckle from Alice. "It wasn't even that long Edward. Remember Emmett's graduation? That was almost three and a half hours."

"Well it was two hours too long for me. I'm going to find Bella. If I don't see you, I'll meet you and mom and dad at my place," I say distractedly, already making my way to the last place I saw Bella.

I spot Bella a couple rows ahead of me, and see her talking with a middle-aged couple. "Bella," I call out, causing her to turn and smile.

"Edward," she greets. "These are my parents, Charlie and Renee. Mom, Dad, this is my friend Edward."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Chief Swan, Mrs. Swan," I say shaking their hands.

Charlie squeezes my hand a little more than necessary, causing his mustache to twitch in what looks like disapproval. Renee however, a spitting image of Bella, pulls me into a bone-crushing hug.

"Bella," she exclaims, "why have you never mentioned this gorgeous man to us before?"

"Um," Bella stutters looking at me nervously. "I uh, thought I would just wait for graduation for you to meet him," she shrugs questioningly.

"Humph," Charlie grumbles to himself, earning a slap from Renee.

"Should we get going," I ask to break the tension.

"And where do you think you're going? I believe we have plans with our daughter that do not involve you," Charlie states, looking at me in displeasure.

"Dad," Bella admonishes. "The party is at Edward's house." Before he can protest anymore, she quickly gives him directions to our place, with orders to call if he gets confused so he can follow behind us.

Once we're out of her parent's sights I quickly grab Bella's hand and pull her into a hug. "How are you holding up, love?" I ask placing a strand of hair behind her ear.

Bella lets out a breath and snuggles into my chest, squeezing me to her. "Can we skip the party," she mumbles.

I quietly chuckle, kissing the top of her head, "Anything you want, love."

Reluctantly she pulls away, "We should probably get going or my parents will beat us there." I nod in agreement, walking hand in hand with her back to the car.

After we pull into the garage, Bella releases my hand and quickly makes her way inside to get the rest of the food ready. I follow behind after grabbing a couple cases of beer for the party. I turn some music on and Bella and I work quietly together. Fifteen minutes later the doorbell rings followed by Alice popping in, "We're here! And Emmett and the parental unit just pulled into the driveway."

"We're in the kitchen," I call out, as I finish putting some plates and napkins near some of the food.

Alice enters and gasps, "You did all of this Bella? Did you get any sleep last night?"

"Of course I didn't do it all Alice. Actually Edward did most of it this morning while I was getting ready and we had prepped a lot of the stuff last night. We just have a couple of things that need to go in the oven and then everything will be done."

Alice looks over to me incredulously, "I'm impressed Edward. I'd never thought I'd see the day where you could actually cook."

I shrug, "You know I have an amazing teacher Ali; you've have her fettuccini."

"Who has amazing fettuccini?"

"Mom," I smile, walking over to her, pulling her into a hug, and kissing her cheek.

"Edward, I'm sorry we missed you at the ceremony. Congratulations. My two babies are growing up so quickly. Soon Alice will be married and then it will just be my boys left."

"Mom," I groan.

A masculine laugh to my left draws my attention to my father. "Hey dad," I greet giving him a quick hug.

"Congratulations son. I'm very proud of you."

"Thanks," I blush. Earning my father's praise has always been something I've strived for. I'm just sad that I haven't found the woman that both my parents long for me have.

"Now who is this person that makes this amazing fettuccini you were raving to your sister about?" my mother asks once again.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Let me introduce you to my Bella," I say walking over to her. I hear my mother gasp, I frown at her wondering what's wrong with her. "Mom, Dad this is Bella. Bella these are my parents Carlisle and Esme Cullen."

"It's so good to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Cullen. Edward has told me so much about you too; it's good to finally meet you. I'm sorry, I'd offer you my hand but I'm afraid I'm covered in flour amongst other things," Bella says bashfully.

"Please call me Esme. Do you need any help dear, it looks like you have your hands full," my mother asks.

"No, that's not necessary. I think Edward can help me with the last couple of items, but that thank you so much for the offer."

My parents both laugh. "I don't know how much help my son will be in the kitchen, he has a housekeeper that usually keeps him well fed. Where is Maria by the way," my father asks.

I tense at the mention of my old housekeeper, "Actually Maria quit a couple months ago. Her son got sick so she moved to be near him. And Bella has taught me a lot in the kitchen, I am no longer an invalid when it comes to cooking."

My mothers eyes grow large at my statement before a big smile spreads over her face, "That's wonderful dear."

The doorbell interrupts us once again. "I'll get it. It might be my parents," Bella says, disappearing to answer the door.

"So how long have you two been together," Mom gushes as soon as Bella is out of earshot.

I look at her quizzically while picking up where Bella left off with the food, "We're not together mom. She needed a place to stay after her and her boyfriend broke up, so here she is," I shrug, hoping she'll drop it.

"I just thought with the way you talk about her and the way you look at her," she trails off.

"This isn't the time or the place to be discussing this mom. Please just enjoy the afternoon," I plead with her.

A group of voices filters to the kitchen, as Bella leads the way followed by her parents and friends. Introductions are quickly made and Bella returns to my side to finish with the food preparations. I give Emmett instructions to make sure everyone has a drink and for Jasper to find some game for the men to watch in the living room. The group filters out of the kitchen, leaving Bella and I to finish up the food.

When I'm close to Bella I lean in and whisper, "How's it going love? Would you like a drink?"

"Yes, please," she breathes out heavily. "I'll take a glass of wine."

"Coming right up," I reply. I pour two glasses of red wine for us and hand her one.

"Thank you," she says taking a large drink.

I chuckle, "Perhaps we should get some food in you first, we don't want you to get too drunk now would we," I smile wrapping my arm across her back. "Do you have anything else that needs to be done, love," I ask.

"No, the last is in the oven," she says turning around to face me, and sighing. "How much longer before everyone leaves?"

"A few hours I would guess. If gets to be too much we can either kick everyone out or you can always escape to our bedroom with nap as an excuse," I suggest.

"Mm, that sounds nice. But I don't know if I'd be able to sleep without you by my side," she murmurs.

"Edward, you're parents are amazing," Rosalie chimes walking into the room, causing Bella to tense and walk away from me. I frown looking after her as she walks out of the room with her glass in hand.

"I like to think so," I say bringing my attention to Rose. "They are the perfect image of where I hope to be someday," I say politely.

"It's hard to imagine that Emmett turned out the way he did with parents like that," she muses.

I laugh, "Yes, I used to wonder the same thing; then again I can't really talk because look at how I turned out."

"What are you talking about Edward? Any woman would be lucky to have you. You obviously don't see yourself very clearly."

I shrug, once again looking at where Bella exited moments ago. Rosalie sighs, "Just go after her Edward. It's obvious you're in love her. I'm sure she's missing you too."

"I'm not in love with her Rose," I say longingly. "Besides, that's the last thing she needs right now. I couldn't possibly put her in that situation after the attack. Besides she's my employee, that's highly unethical."

"How can you sit there and say shit like that about her _just _being your employee after all the shit she's been through this weekend," she spits at me, clearly pissed off. "On top of that, all the time you spent together the past few weeks. You guys are clearly close friends; either that or it's the best working relationship I've ever seen. Not only that, but you're sharing a bed together. You two are obviously more than boss—employee. Now pull your head out of your ass and go to her."

"She doesn't like me like that Rose. I'm just here to provide comfort for her."

"Bullshit."

"Besides, she's under this weird impression that you like me. She's brought it up a couple of times, so she's obviously not into me like that."

"Shit," she groans, putting her head in her hands. "It makes so much more sense now. No wonder she left in a flash when I walked in here. I'll admit, I was after you for a while, but after the party I saw how good you two were together. And your brother and I are kind of together now, so… yeah," she trails off. "Shit!"

"You and Emmett," I ask perplexed, "I thought you hated him."

She blushes, "Well after you told him to go find me, he was so relieved when he saw me. He was so worried about me even though I never once gave him any indication that there was a chance between us. It was really sweet, and he was there for me when I was worried about Bella. So I decided to give him a chance," she shrugs.

I smile at her, "It's about time. He couldn't stop talking about you when he first met you. I'd never seen him so speechless before."

"Enough about me go find Bella. I'm sure she's dying somewhere without you right now," she says leaving the room.

I take a swig of my wine, enjoying the slight burn on the way down. _I can't believe Bella was right; Rosalie was going after me._ I shudder thinking about all the times I thought she was just being friendly, when really she was after something else. The alarm on the oven breaks me from my thoughts. I set my wine down and grab a potholder to remove the baked pasta from the oven, silencing the alarm.

"I can get that," Bella calls, walking into the kitchen.

"I got it. Could you grab some more potholders so I can set it on the counter?"

"Sure," she replies, brushing against me to do as I ask.

"There," I say placing the pasta on the counter, "everything is ready. You did an amazing job with the menu, love. Everything looks delicious."

"I couldn't have done it without you Edward. I shouldn't get all the credit."

"Should we call everyone to come eat?"

"Sure. You can do that and I'll top off our glasses," she says taking her empty glass and my half empty one. I nod my head and follow her instructions.

As everyone begins to trickle in, I notice that our parents seem to be getting along rather nicely. Jacob and Rosalie's parents are talking amongst themselves along with Jasper's parents. I must have been too busy to notice when they arrived; of course they would come for their son's fiancée's graduation. I smile when I see Rose and Em helping each other fill their plates.

I make my way over to Bella's side, "Look Bella, Rose has moved on to Emmett. Now there should be no more confusion on whether we're together or not. Not only that, but apparently they have been together since the night of the party," I whisper in her ear.

"Sorry, everything just always appeared like you two were into each other."

"She did admit to me earlier that she did like me, but after Emmett went looking for her at the party she saw how much he actually cared for her and decided to give him a chance. So you were right about that, but I've never had those feelings for her," I explain.

"Good to know," she whispers back, looking into my eyes.

"Now let's get some food," I say grabbing her hand, "you're already almost a glass ahead of me in the wine department; that's unacceptable."

She chuckles and lets me lead her to the counter, where we fill each other's plates, just like Emmett and Rose. We take our plates and wine glasses into the dining room where Alice, Jasper, and my parents are eating; assuming everyone else is eating in the living room.

"Bella this food is amazing," my mother gushes. "I'll have to get the recipe from you, perhaps it will make Edward come home more often."

"Mom," I groan. "You know I've been busy this semester with graduation. Plus I'll be volunteering at the hospital now that school is out. I'll try to make it out there when I can."

"I know dear, I was just giving you a hard time."

We make small talk with my parents, my mother asking Bella twenty questions. She surprised me by being very confident, when this morning she was in pieces in my arms. Eventually my mother gives us a break and turns to Alice, "So Alice, how is your friend doing that you were helping yesterday?"

I see Bella tense beside me and immediately grab her hand under the table for support. "She's doing well mom, thanks for asking," Alice replies, looking over at us cautiously.

"What did you say happened again?"

"I didn't say. It's not my place to spread the details of someone else's life mother, you should know me better than that," Alice says, taking her plate to the kitchen.

My mother looks around at everyone questioningly, "I'm sorry, I didn't think I said anything wrong. I was just worried because she seemed so upset when I spoke to her yesterday. I just wanted make sure that everything was okay with her friend. Can you please apologize to her for me Jasper," my mother asks worriedly.

"Of course Esme. I'm sure Alice knows you meant no harm. It's just been a long weekend for everyone, that's all," he responds, following Alice into the kitchen.

Throughout the conversation, Bella slowly increased the pressure on my hand. I trace slow circles with my thumb on her hand, causing her to relax her grip little by little. Eventually my parents retreat to the kitchen with their plates, leaving Bella and I alone at the table.

"Are you okay, love?" I ask anxiously, turning her to face me. She doesn't respond and I notice the far away look is back in her eyes. "I'm going to take care of our plates and then I'll be right back and we'll lay down for a nap, okay?" Again, no response. I quickly clean up dishes and return to her side, grabbing her hand to lead her upstairs.

Once we reach my bedroom I pull her to the bed and lay down beside her. She immediately nestles into my chest and starts crying. "Sh," I try soothing. "Everything is going to be okay. You're safe. I've got you."

"I ruined everyone's weekend," she mumbles.

"No you didn't. Don't say things like that. We all love you and support you Bella."

"I'm sorry," she says wiping some of the tears from her face. "You should go back downstairs and I'll be down when I calm down a little bit more."

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm staying right here with you. Now close your eyes and sleep for a little bit. I won't let you sleep for more than an hour, how does that sound?"

"My parents will be wondering where I am," she says sleepily.

I smile and kiss her head, "I'll tell them where you're at love. Now sleep."

She falls asleep not even five minutes later. I gently extract myself from her grasp, giving her one last kiss, before putting a throw blanket on her, and heading back to the party downstairs.

When I reach the living room, Alice instantly accosts me. "Where's Bella? Is she okay?"

"Calm down Alice. She's laying down upstairs. If anyone asks just tell them that she's not feeling very well."

Alice returns to Jasper and his parents, when Charlie approaches me. "Have you seen Bella around Edward," he asks gruffly.

"Actually she wasn't feeling very well so I made her go lay down for a little bit."

"Oh. She never mentioned that wasn't feeling well."

"Well you know Bella, Chief Swan, she doesn't like to be an inconvenience to anyone. She thought she'd just slip away for an hour before anyone could notice that she's missing."

"I see. So what exactly are you intentions with my daughter, Edward?"

At the abrupt change in conversation, I cough uncomfortably, causing Charlie to slap me on the back. "Easy there son, it's a simple question."

"Um," I stammer blushing uncontrollably, "I have nothing but Bella's best interests at heart. She deserves to be safe and happy, and I'll do my best to provide that for her for as long as she'll let me. She's an amazing person and she deserves the best. I can't stand to see her hurt, and I'll do everything within my power to make her happy." I don't know exactly what the Chief had in mind by asking me what my intentions were, but I hope that my response is good enough for him.

"Humph," he grumbles and wanders off.

I watch him walk away highly confused, when an ear splitting scream from upstairs causes me to momentarily freeze. Seconds later, I'm dashing up the stairs into my bedroom to find Bella huddled up against the headboard, speaking incoherently to herself.

I slowly approach the bed, not wanting to frighten her more. "Bella, love," I say softly. She whimpers in reply to my voice. "Bella, it's me, Edward."

"Edward, help me," she cries.

I make it to the bed and sit down, reaching for Bella. When I touch her arm she flinches and cries out in protest, pushing against me. I wrap my arms around her upper arms, constricting her movement. I quietly murmur reassurances into her ear; eventually she relaxes into me and falls back asleep. Whispering near the door leads me to shift my focus to our audience. _Were they there the entire time?_

"Is she okay, Edward," Renee asks quietly, crying into Charlie's shoulder.

"For now. She fell back asleep," I say quietly.

"What happened to my daughter Edward," Charlie asks hoarsely.

I break eye contact and look back at the fragile woman in my arms, clutching her closer to me. "It's not my place to say Charlie. You'll have to speak to Bella about that." After several minutes of silence I ask the group to return downstairs, reassuring them that I have everything under control.

Twenty minutes later Bella stirs in my arms, snuggling into chest. "Mm, Edward," she murmurs.

I chuckle, "Yes, love?"

I feel Bella tense and pull back to look at me, a beautiful blush covering her cheeks. "I thought you went back to the party."

"I did, but then you started screaming so I came back."

"Oh god," she moans into my neck, "did anyone else hear me?"

"Yes, I'm sorry love. A few people followed me when I ran up here. Your parents are really worried about you. I didn't tell them what happened, but I think that you should if your friends haven't already. They deserve to know."

"I know, I just don't want to upset them. My mother will be beside herself with worry."

"I think we're past that now love. It will only make matters worse if you don't tell them."

"You're right. Do you think you could go get them for me?"

"Of course. I'll be downstairs if you need me," I say placing a chaste kiss on her temple and removing myself from her.

When I reach the living room, silence ensues, "Charlie and Renee, Bella is asking for you upstairs." They nod their heads and as Renee passes me she squeezes my hand, "Thank you for looking after my baby."

"I would do anything for her Mrs. Swan," I answer truthfully.

**A/N: Sorry, Sorry, Sorry… I feel horrible that it's taken me so long to update. Life has been pretty crazy the last half year or so. Boot camp was… well boot camp. It sucked and I've never been more tired in my life. Who knew you could sleep while marching? Anyway… Now days I'm in Texas training as a surgery technologist… fun stuff. That being said, it is very hard for me to find time to sit down and update, but I'll do my best in the future. I hope I at least gave you a little more to look forward to. Please review… those are always what keep me writing.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

As the Swan's walk upstairs, I release a breath I didn't know I was holding. I make my way to the kitchen, grab my glass of wine, and down the last of it contents. "Easy there brother," Emmett says behind me. I slowly turn around and give him a half smile before filling up my glass again.

"I don't know what to do anymore Emmett. One minute I think she's doing great and the next it's like she's an empty vessel."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up man. It's only been a couple of days, give her some time to adjust and cope. You're really doing a great job with her; I wouldn't even know where to start if I was in your position."

"Hm," I mumble staring at his feet. After a pause I let out a breath, "So I'm assuming the party is over?"

Emmett shrugs, "Nobody is racing to get out of the door if that's what you mean. Everyone's just worried about her. If you were hinting that you want us out, I can go kick everyone out," he offers.

"That's okay. Let's just go back to the living room and wait for them to come downstairs. But thanks Emmett," I say placing a hand on his shoulder.

We walk into the living room and there's a brief pause before everyone returns to their conversations. I'm relieved not to be bombarded with questions or sideways glances. I collapse onto a sofa with my wine and stare into space, not eager to join into any meaningless chitchat while Bella is upstairs reliving Friday night for her parents. I idly sip my wine, waiting for the slightest sound coming from upstairs. Half an hour later, I'm rewarded with the sounds of footsteps making the decent. I have to force myself not to rush to Bella's side when she walks into the room.

"Sorry for the scare earlier everyone," she says apologetically. She turns in my direction, "Edward can I talk to you for a couple seconds?"

"Sure," I murmur and follow her to the kitchen.

She looks at me meekly, reminding me of the first day she moved in with me. "My parents are going to take me to the police station to report it," she says quietly. "My dad's pretty upset with me for not reporting it right away, or telling them about it. Thank you for not pushing me though."

"No problem," I say walking towards her. "Did you want me to come with you to the police station? I'll probably have to make a statement anyways," I offer, wrapping my arms around her in support, causing her to place her hands on my chest.

"No, that's okay. If they need a statement from you, I'll just have them contact you. This is something I need to do by myself," she says looking up into my eyes.

Feeling slightly rejected I give a small smile and take a step back, "I'll be here when you get back then."

Placing her right hand on my cheek, she steps up on her tiptoes and kisses my left cheek, paralyzing me. "Thank you Edward. I'll see you later. And if everyone else hasn't been informed yet, it's okay if you tell them. There's really no use hiding it anymore."

"As you wish," I reply, watching her walk out of the room to rejoin her parents. I hear the front door shut, and sink onto a barstool, trying to process the last couple of minutes. My emotions are running wild, going from feeling appreciated to rejected to… loved? Or was she just being nice again?

"You okay, Edward?" Alice asks sitting down quietly beside me.

"I'm fine. Bella's parents are taking her to the police station to report the incident. She said it was okay to let everyone else know what happened," I say robotically.

"Hey," she says, turning my head towards her. "She wasn't ready before. I think her dad being a police chief was that little push she needed to report it. It has nothing to do with you. You've gone above and beyond for her; let her do this for herself."

"You're right," I murmur. "I'm just nervous she'll breakdown and I won't be there for her."

Alice gives me a small smile, "You love her."

I scowl at her, "You're the second person to tell me that today."

Her grin doubles in size. "Why won't you just admit it?"

"Because it's not true. Why don't you go bother someone else? Go tell them what's going on, I'll be back in a few minutes. I'm just going to step outside for some air," I say, refilling my wine once more and walking outside to the back porch.

I take a deep breath and release it, looking out over my yard. _Do I love Bella? Strip Girl? I couldn't possibly; she's my employee. Her long brown hair and chocolate eyes, her laugh, not to mention her smile. _"What am I doing?" I scold myself. These are not appropriate things to be contemplating at a time like this. She needs a friend right now to support her, not come on to her, not to mention I'm her boss. _Do bosses really share their beds with their employees?_ "Enough!" I shout at myself.

"You okay there son?" my father's voice startles me.

I spin around, embarrassed by my outburst. "Sorry. I have a lot on my mind," I say by means of explanation.

"You're worried about Bella," it's a statement, not a question. I nod my head reluctantly. "From what your siblings and friends have been saying inside, you've done quite a lot for her. She's come to depend on you, and you her. And apparently this isn't the first time you've helped her."

"I'm just doing what any decent person would do dad. She doesn't deserve any of this, these _boys_ treating her this way. I just want to protect her."

"You can't always protect the ones you love son, but you can be there for them to help pick up the pieces when they're ready," he says placing a hand on my shoulder. "You're mother and I are very proud of you."

"I haven't done anything though," I say in exasperation, pulling away from him and tugging at my hair. "I did it her way the first time, and ignored it like she wanted me to. And then I couldn't even protect her in our own home. What does that say about me? It took her parents coming over to get her to report it, I feel useless. What good am I?"

"Stop that Edward. You've done more for her by just being there and giving her what she needs: support and comfort. Don't over think things son; just keep doing what you're doing and you'll be fine."

I offer a weak smile, "Thanks dad. I really needed to hear that."

"I'm glad I could help. How about we go back inside and see if there's any food left, I think you've had enough wine for one night," he says taking my empty wine glass from the banister.

I give him a sheepish smile. "You're probably right," I agree, following him inside. We head into the kitchen where most of the food has already been put away. My mother and Alice are busy putting the remaining dishes away.

"Oh, honey," my mother cries, rushing over to me, embracing me in her arms. I sag against her, laying my head against the top of her head. "How are you doing, sweetie?"

"I'm okay. Dad and I just came in looking for some food."

"Of course," she replies, pulling away from me. She grabs a plate from the counter, removing the plastic wrap, "I made up a small plate for you before I put everything away. Here, sit down and eat."

I give her a sheepish smile, before I sit down and inhale the food she places before me. "Where is everyone else," I ask around a mouthful of food.

"They all went home shortly after your friends told us about what happened to Bella. We were all a little surprised that you guys didn't call off the party after Friday night's events. Everyone would have understood Edward."

"I know they would have. Bella insisted we still have the party. She didn't want to disappoint anyone and we figured it would just be easier to have everyone at our place instead of multiple little gatherings," I shrug.

A small smile appears on my mothers face before she quickly covers it, "Did you want us to wait with you until Bella and her parents get back?"

I pause momentarily, "No, that's okay. But thank you for asking. I'm sure Bella won't be up for much company when she returns."

"Of course, dear. You know we're always a phone call away if you need us. Bella seems like an amazing woman for her to have the love and friendship of all of my children so quickly."

"We do love her," Alice pipes up quickly before I can anything. "She's brought us our brother back."

I open and close my mouth multiple times to respond before closing it for good, not having anything to say in reply. Noticing my discomfort, Alice, Jasper, and my parents quickly say their goodbyes, leaving me alone to my thoughts. I finish cleaning up the rest of the kitchen so that Bella doesn't feel compelled to clean it up when she gets home, and then retire to my previous spot on the couch. I stretch out across the couch and try to picture where my life would be if Bella hadn't stumbled into my life.

It had been too long since I'd last seen or spoken to my parents, let alone how much more time I've been spending with Emmett and Alice recently. And I owe it all to Bella, this broken woman that's trying to remain strong for everyone else but herself. I don't know how long I'm lying here before I fall asleep.

Something lightly stroking my face slowly wakes me from my sleep. "Edward," a quite voice breathes close to my lips. "Mm," I hum, rolling into what I now realize is a hand softly brushing across my face. The movement of my head causes my lips to graze something soft and moist. A sharp intake of air and sudden movement above me causes my eyes to snap open. I'm greeted with the sight of a blushing Bella splayed out over the floor.

"Hi," she squeaks, before clearing her throat.

"Hi," I chuckle.

"I would have carried you to you're room like you've done for me in the past, but I don't think I would have accomplished much more than pulling you off of the couch," she blushes.

I laugh heartily, "In that case, thank you for the gentle wake up. That was much more appreciated than being woken up by falling on my face," I smile at her.

If it's even possible, her blush deepens. "Anytime," she mumbles.

I sit up and pull her from her strange sitting position on the floor, "Why are you on the floor," I ask curiously.

"Um, you startled me when you moved your head. I thought you were still asleep; I fell."

"Oh," I say confusedly, wondering what my lips brushed against. I would ask Bella, but she's acting a little strangely. "Oh!" I exclaim, "How'd it go down at the station?"

"Fine," she mumbles and looks away. "The police said that they would contact you and Emmett tomorrow. And that they didn't know how much they could do since I didn't report it right away," she shrugs.

"I'm sorry, love. Is there anything I can do?" I ask squeezing her hand I have yet to release.

"You're already doing it. Let's just go to bed," she says pulling me up from the couch and leading me towards the stairs.

"What time is it," I ask, wiping the sleep from eyes with my free hand.

"Going on nine o'clock. I know it's still kind of early, but I figured we could just watch a movie until we fall asleep. Is that okay?" she asks, slowing down to turn around and look at me, worrying I don't like her plan.

"Sounds perfect," I confirm, squeezing her hand to reassure her.

She gives me a brilliant smile before continuing up the stairs and leading the way into the bedroom. Once in the room, she releases my hand and walks into the bathroom to complete her bedroom routine. I automatically lock the door, and dress down to my pajama pants and t-shirt. I walk over to the bathroom and knock, "Is it okay if I come in and brush my teeth?" I hear a muffled response, taking it as confirmation; I open the door and stop in my tracks. Bella is hunched over the sink, brushing her teeth in only my t-shirt. I stand there, mouth agape before I snap out of it and try to make a hasty retreat.

"It's fine Edward," Bella rushes to say around a mouthful of toothpaste, grabbing my arm in the process. "You can stay."

I slowly turn around and look at her quizzically, "Are you sure? I didn't mean to encroach on your privacy."

"You're fine Edward, honestly. It's not like you walked in on me going to the bathroom. And besides, you've seen me in much less undress than this," she says confidently.

I nod dumbly at her and move robotically to my sink to brush my teeth. I've never had the need for two sinks before but I'm suddenly grateful for the extra one Alice insisted I needed when I bought the house. I can't help but think how much Bella fits here beside me. _Stop it Edward_, I scold myself. _You're just helping a friend and employee through a rough time; don't get any ideas._

Bella finishes before me and retreats to the bedroom while I finish up. I walk back out into the bedroom where Bella has already crawled under the sheets with a movie playing quietly in the background. I flip off the overhead light and join her on the bed.

Bella turns on her side to face me, "Hi," she says quietly.

"Hi," I mumble nervously, still slightly embarrassed about walking in on her in the bathroom. "So what movie are we watching?"

"I don't really know. I just left it on the first movie that came on. I think it might be _The Notebook_, or something like that. You can change it if you'd like."

"No, that's fine. We can watch whatever you want. I'll most likely fall asleep anyway; it's been a long weekend. How are you holding up?"

"I'm okay. Thankful that today is over. I feel bad that I ruined everyone's day though. We were supposed to be celebrating our graduation and instead, I once again bring everyone into my drama," she cringes and turns away.

"No one thinks of it that way Bella. We're all just glad you're okay. That's more important than some silly graduation."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up. I'm so tired of talking about it. How'd the rest of the party go," she says, finally turning back to me.

I grimace, "I'm not too sure. I went outside to get some air, and the next thing I know my dad is pulling me into the house and everyone else had left. I think it was fine though."

"I'm sorry-" she starts before I place my hand over her mouth.

"No more apologies. Now how about we watch this movie."

"Sure," she mumbles in agreement, snuggling up to my side. I smile and kiss her temple, trying to focus on the movie but having no luck with Bella in my arms. A few minutes later, her breathing evens out so I flip off the TV and nestle into Bella's side as much as I can without waking her. For the first time since I crawled into bed, I notice that she never put on any pants after she left the bathroom so she's dressed only in my shirt. I quietly groan into my pillow, trying to think platonic thoughts. Conjuring up the image of her on Friday night immediately stops any wandering thoughts I may have had. Sleep clams me quickly after that.

"Edward, wake up," Bella says softly. I open my eyes slowly, only to close them quickly, the light assaulting them unwelcome. "Edward," Bella chuckles, "If you wake up I have a surprise waiting for you."

"What time is it," I ask rubbing my eyes.

"A little after nine."

"Wow, I must have been more tired than I thought. Why are you up already?"

"I woke up about an hour ago and I thought I'd make you breakfast in bed as a thank you for everything you've done for me. Not only for the past few days but also from the moment you opened up your home to me. It really means a lot to me Edward."

For the first time I notice the smell of sausage and pancakes permeating the air. "You didn't have to do that Bella; you're too good to me. I'd do anything for you; you deserve the world. And next time I would prefer making breakfast with you, although I can hardly complain to being treated to breakfast in bed," I smile at her.

She places a tray of food across my lap, blushes and walks around to the other side of the bed before settling in next to me. "I'll have to keep that in mind. But really Edward, thank you. I don't know what I would do without you."

"I'm not going anywhere. Now let's eat," I say to break the heaviness that has settled over us. "You did bring enough for both of us right?" I ask when I notice there is only one tray.

"Well I can only carry one tray at a time and only one plate fits on it," she shrugs and looks away.

I glance down at the tray and chuckle, "Well that doesn't seem to be an issue; there is enough food on this tray to feed five people. And look, there just so happens to be two forks and two glasses of orange juice." I move the tray to rest between us and pass her the extra fork, "Imagine that."

She chuckles and takes the fork from my hand. "So what do you want to do today," she asks.

I shrug, "Doesn't matter to me. I think I'll start at the hospital next week, give myself a week after graduation to relax for a little bit. What about you?"

"That sounds like a good idea. Plus I need so time after, well, everything," she trails off sadly.

"Take as long as you need Bella. No one expects you to jump back into things so quickly."

"I guess," she shrugs. "I just hate this. I hate everyone having to walk around on eggshells when they're around me, I hate the suffocating feeling I get when something reminds me of that night, but most of all I hate being trapped in my head so much that I hurt you when I mistake you for him. You're the only one that can keep me in the now. I only managed through last night because I knew I'd be coming back to you," she sniffles, covering her face with her hands.

I move the tray onto the floor next to the bed and take Bella into my arms. "I'll always be here for you, as long as you want me," I say gently. "What you're feeling is absolutely normal. Don't worry about me love; it only hurts me to see you broken. I'm just thankful that I can take at least take some of your pain away. I wish I could do more for you."

Her breath hitches which I find odd. "What," I ask quizzically.

"It's nothing, I just don't think I'll ever get used to you calling me that," she murmurs.

I look at her confusedly, "Calling you what?"

"Love. You've been calling me that all weekend."

"I, uh," I stammer, rolling onto my back away from her. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was calling you that. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

"It's not that Edward. It just took me surprise that's all." I remain quite, staring at the ceiling, my mind running a mile a minute. "Hey," she says, turning my face towards her. Once I'm looking at her she places her hand on my chest. "Don't shut down on me now. You've never once made me feel uncomfortable."

"Are you sure," I ask, worriedly, placing my hand on top of hers.

"I'm sure. You should know me well enough by now to know that I would tell you if you made me uncomfortable in anyway. In fact, being here with you the past couple days has meant everything to me Edward. I don't think I can thank you enough for all that you've done for me."

I squeeze her hand, "I haven't done anything though."

"You've done more than you realize. If it weren't for you, I don't think I would have been able to go to the police station yesterday."

"I didn't even go with you. Your parents are the ones that talked you into going."

"No, not really. They may have given me that extra little push I needed, but knowing that I had your support one hundred percent if I reported it or not, that meant everything to me. I couldn't wait to leave the police station because I wanted to get back to you. You make me feel safe Edward. No one else is there for me like you are."

I'm left complexly speechless by her declaration and suddenly overcome with emotion I've never felt before. My chest gets tight and before I have time to analyze anything, I lean in a press my lips to hers in a soft kiss, wrapping my arm around her back, and pulling her to me.

Once realization of what I'm doing enters my brain, I pull away abruptly. "Shit," I exclaim, "I'm so sorry. I don't know what overcame me. I didn't mean to-" Bella places a hand over my mouth stopping me.

"Don't. Don't you dare apologize for that, not unless you really don't have any feelings for me. You don't know how long I've waited for that moment, and I don't need you ruining it by apologizing and saying it shouldn't have happened."

I'm once again left dumbstruck by the woman in my arms. "But I'm your boss," I offer lamely, stunned by her comments.

"Is that what this is about? Edward," she says, caressing my cheek, "I haven't thought of you as my boss for quite some time now. The only reason I never 'made a move' or anything was because I thought that you liked Rosalie. Do you think I would honestly have put myself in the position of sharing a bed with my boss? I mean, I know you _are_ my boss, but I'd like to think that you're my friend first."

"You don't know how relieved I am to hear you say that. I've been torturing myself for a while now, trying to convince myself that you're just my employee. I-" I pause, trying to find the right words, "You mean so much to me Bella; I've never felt like this before. I'm scared that I'm going to push you away, especially after Friday."

"I promise you that if it ever gets to be too much I'll tell you."

"Okay," I agree, nuzzling into her neck. I relish the feeling of being close to her this way, and knowing it's not just comfort I'm offering her anymore.

* * *

**A/N: Wow, I can't believe it's almost been a year since I've last updated. I am now currently half way across the world in Guam. To say things have been crazy since joining the military would be an understatement. I hope I haven't lost too many readers over the year. I hope this can somewhat make up for long break. Let me know what you think. Have I lost my touch over the past year?**


End file.
